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Composer-pianist Ola Gjeilo has a meditative, cinematic style on albums he releases under his own name. He also composes choral music, and in his recordings of these works, he often contributes piano improvisations over his compositions.

Gjeilo (YAY-lo) was born in 1978. His parents were Inge and Anne-May Gjeilo, and the household was musically eclectic, with classical, jazz, pop, and folk sounds in the environment. At five, Ola took up the piano, and by seven, he could read music. He took composition lessons from Wolfgang Plagge even before entering the Norwegian Academy of Music in 1999. Gjeilo transferred to the Juilliard School in 2001 and then to the Royal College of Music in London, where he earned a bachelor's degree in 2004. Gjeilo returned to Juilliard, where he received a master's degree in 2006. In 2003, his music was featured on the electronic compilation album Zen, and in 2007, he made his solo debut on the 2L label with the album Stone Rose, mostly featuring his solo piano along with some chamber works. In 2009 and 2010, Gjeilo served as composer-in-residence for the Phoenix Chorale.

Gjeilo's music is mostly in the solo piano and choral genres, with some for wind symphony. His works in each of these genres are issued by different publishers, Walton Music for choral works, Boosey & Hawkes for wind band, and Chester Music for keyboard works. One of his early choral works, Phoenix (2008), has been recorded several times, and by the early 2020s, more than 125 of his compositions had been recorded by himself and others; many choirs unconnected with Gjeilo have recorded his choral works, but Gjeilo is perhaps best known for the solo recordings he has released under his own name; since 2016, these have appeared on the Decca label. The first was Ola Gjeilo: Voices, Piano, Strings, while Winter Songs (2017) featured the Choir of Royal Holloway, University of London; Night (2020) and Dawn (2022) were solo piano recordings. Gjeilo is based in New York, where he makes a living as a freelance composer. ~ James Manheim

The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (RPO) has held a prominent place in British music-making for more than seven decades. With a wide reach across Britain, in addition to its regular concerts in London's Cadogan Hall, including concerts in places where access to orchestral music is limited, the RPO can lay claim to the title of Britain's national orchestra. The RPO incorporates the pops-oriented Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra, the avant-garde Sharp Edge group, and RPO Resound, a community and educational outreach program.

The RPO's broad contemporary appeal, which has included appearances with popular music stars and on film, television, and video game soundtracks, would have been lauded by its founder and first conductor, Sir Thomas Beecham, who set up the RPO in 1946 and helped lead a vital revival in the U.K.'s orchestral life after World War II. The new orchestra prospered, beginning a long summer residency at the Glyndebourne Festival Opera in 1948 and touring the U.S. in 1950, becoming the first English orchestra to do so since 1912. Rudolf Kempe became principal conductor upon Beecham's death in 1961. The orchestra hit a rough patch in the early '60s under the leadership of Beecham's widow; Kempe departed (and then returned), and the orchestra temporarily lost the right to use the "royal" designation. That was restored by Queen Elizabeth II in 1966, and several strong conductors, Antal Doráti (1975-1978), André Previn (1985-1992), and Vladimir Ashkenazy (music director, 1987-1994), built the orchestra artistically. Later conductors have included Daniele Gatti, Yuri Temirkanov, Charles Dutoit, and Vasily Petrenko, who began his tenure as music director in 2021.

The RPO is especially notable for the depth and variety of its recording program, which in the first few years of its existence had already topped 100 items; by the early 2020s decade, the orchestra had issued many hundreds of recordings, stretching from pop (disco enthusiasts will remember it as the orchestra featured on the Hooked on Classics recordings of the 1980s) to new avant-garde music. Among these was a 125-album contract with the Tring label. The orchestra's RPO Records, formed in 1986, is thought to have been the first recording label owned by a symphony orchestra; such an arrangement is now commonplace. The following year, the RPO launched the light music (or pops in the U.S.) companion group, the Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra.

In 1993, the RPO inaugurated an educational and community outreach program titled RPO Resound. This program provides musical experiences outside of traditional concert settings, such as schools, prisons, and hospitals. Among the key projects for this program is the stroke rehabilitation project STROKESTRA. The RPO is the resident music ensemble of Cadogan Hall in Chelsea, becoming the first London orchestra to have a permanent home, giving its first concert there in 2004. In 2019, the RPO released Animal Requiem by rocker Pete Townshend's collaborator and marital partner, Rachel Fuller. That year, the RPO was named the associate orchestra of the Royal Albert Hall. Among the orchestra's 2022 albums are a recording of two Sibelius Symphonies and Air, featuring the music of Oliver Davis. The next year, they teamed with Joe Hisaishi for A Symphonic Celebration, which reimagined songs from beloved Studio Ghibli animated films. ~ James Manheim & Keith Finke

Rupert Gough is known for the wide range of his activities as a choral and orchestral conductor, organist, harpsichordist, and educator. He has been the organist and director of choral music at Royal Holloway, University of London, since 2005, and he often performs with his wife, Rachel, as the Gough Duo.

Gough was born in March of 1971. His first musical studies came as a chorister at the Chapel Royal, St. James Palace. He won a scholarship to the Purcell School for Young Musicians and then attended the University of East Anglia, earning a master's degree with distinction and serving at the same time as an organ scholar at Norwich Cathedral. He held other organ scholar posts at the Chapel Royal, Hampton Court Palace, Rochester Cathedral, and Norwich Cathedral before landing a post as assistant organist at Wells Cathedral, where he remained for 11 years. A third prize at the St. Alban's International Organ Competition in 2001 boosted Gough's performing career. He has worked with leading instrumental groups, including the Britten Sinfonia, the London Mozart Players, and the Hong Kong Philharmonic as well as choirs in various places, and he has accompanied vocal soloists such as Felicity Lott, Emma Kirkby, and James Bowman. His most frequent collaborator is his wife, Rachel, with whom he has toured extensively in the U.S. and Europe, also appearing in Moscow and Hong Kong before large audiences. Since 2005, Gough has been the director of choral music and college organist at Royal Holloway, University of London, and he has performed with the college choir in many countries. He is also organist and director of music at Great Saint Bartholomew, London's oldest surviving church.

Gough has appeared on some 50 recordings, mostly as a choral conductor, dating back to several albums he made for the Hyperion label during his Wells Cathedral days. He has also recorded for Priory, Naxos, and Signum Classics, among other labels, and he has often issued albums of works by lesser-known composers such as Sir Percy Buck, Carson Cooman, and Bo Hansson, as well as a Gough Duo recording of the complete works for violin and organ of Josef Rheinberger. ~ James Manheim