This LGBTQ Pride Month, WFMT honors the numerous LGBTQ artists and composers who have changed classical music for the better.

It’s been a strange, difficult year for the music world, which is all the more reason to celebrate musical excellence.

On a frigid day in February, music by Amy Beach, Ethel Smyth, and Luise Adolpha Le Beau brought us comfort and warmth.

Just because the school year is right around the corner doesn’t mean that you have to stop playing (or writing) music. As proof, here are 16 pieces from composers written when they were still students!

Though the music of your favorite composers might make you smile, chances are, the composers themselves aren’t smiling in their portraits. Until now…