It was his father's sudden death when Gergiev was just 14 that drew him closer to music and eventually led to conducting.

CNN: Valery Gergiev: Russian maestro

He was asked about conducting his approach to a piece of music.

NPR: A Musician Recalls Playing Under Rostropovich

School singers and their jazz band provided campaign music, and students acted as television moderators, conducting interviews and reporting electoral results by fixing either a blue or a red pin to a map of the United States.

FORBES: Who Will Be Elected Pres On Tuesday? American High School Students Say Obama

Conducting research on the revenue effects of illegal music consumption requires detailed dataon the quantities of both legal and illegal music consumed by individuals.

FORBES: Music Piracy: Major Studies Conflicted Over Recording Industry Impact

Sir Michael studied composition, conducting and piano at the Royal College of music in London, and later became a schoolteacher, teaching French to keep himself while he set about finding a musical voice of his own.

BBC: World: Analysis

Michael Stern settled in as music director of the Kansas City Symphony in 2005, after decades guest-conducting orchestras that included the New York Philharmonic, the Cleveland Orchestra and the London Symphony.

NPR: Symphony Conductor Reflects on Music in the Middle

He's a guy that just absolutely refuses to let music just speak on the surface, and he always digs down, often into music that really doesn't have much depth, but when he's conducting it, it sounds like it does.

NPR: Conductor James DePreist

He won a scholarship to the Royal College of Music, but because he couldn't play the piano he was not allowed to join the conducting class.

BBC: Obituary: Colin Davis