Americans in the Cup

With all the American composers at the San Diego Symphony this month, it is obviously time to start the American leg of the World Cup of Composers.

Here’s the challenge: find 16 American composers.

We’ve got the Barber, Copland, Bernstein, Gershwin, and, uh..Oh ya, Amy Beach, Frederic Grofe, and--hold on--right, right we just heard Harbison at the symphony. That’s seven, nine more to go.

There’s that insurance guy--Charles Ives. We can include John Philip Sousa and Philip Glass. I guess John Cage and John Adams can get in there. How about Virgil Thompson? Ya, we need him.

I think Eric Whitacre is deserving. Let’s see, how many is that? That’s 14.

John Williams? Sure, why not?

Three more Americans: William Grant Still, Stephen Sondheim, and Henry Cowell.

While this field isn’t deep it is certainly diverse, kind of like America.