What makes a piece popular? How does a piece survive its first few performances? What makes something a warhorse, played over and over again, easily marketed from decade to decade? Who decides what’s good, anyway? Here are 17 underrated concertos – ones that don’t get played all that much, but maybe should be more widely known.

Here are just a few of our many favorite French composers, from medieval to modern, that might be new to you.

This article was originally published on February 23, 2016.

Osmo Vänskä, the Finnish music director of the Minnesota Orchestra, shared 10 Finnish composers that everyone should know who aren’t Sibelius.

Learn about some of Chopin’s signature compositions: his most important nocturnes.

Though Chopin did not compose many works for piano and orchestra — just six! — he kept them in his concert repertoire throughout his career.

If you’re looking for quick summer reads to add to your list, give these music-themed short stories a try, with everything from Anton (Chekhov) to Zora (Neale Hurston). The best part: they’re all available for free online!

Everyone loves the music of Frédéric Chopin, Poland’s most well-known composer. But, how many other Polish composers do you know?

Omara Portuondo is proud to be compared to Édith Piaf, but she also wants the world to know more about Cuban artists.

There are three Latino composers who have often been compared to Mozart. Two of them were called “Mozart” by their contemporaries:  Chevalier de Saint Georges, born in the French-Caribbean island of Guadeloupe in the 18th century and the 19th-century composer Spanish-Basque Juan Crisóstomo Arriaga. The third is the 20th-century Brazilian composer Camargo Guarnieri whose first name was actually Mozart! Learn …

If “Music oft hath such a charm / To make bad good, and good provoke to harm,” perhaps these 10 Shakespeare-inspired operas will charm you.

If you’re looking to expand your own repertoire, why not explore the music of living composers? Check out these 10 composers changing contemporary classical music today who also all happen to be women.

If you love the music of Frédéric Chopin and are looking to expand your recording collection, here are a few albums you might want to consider. These 8 recordings feature 8 different pianists performing 8 different genres, giving you an appreciation for the diversity of Chopin’s works and the musicians who perform them.

For every cherished Beethoven or Tchaikovsky violin concerto, there’s a concerto by Szymanowski or a Berwald that deserves some more love!

Time for a musical deep dive!

Stanisław Moniuszko may not be a household name today, the composer is literally the face of Polish opera… a statue of him rests outside of the Warsaw Opera House.

During March, Women’s History Month, we draw special attention to the music of women composers past and present on WFMT. Here are 10 living composers who are changing music today, along with 10 albums featuring their music you might want to add to your library.

Gioachino Rossini made so much money from the 39 original operas he created between 1810 and 1829 that he retired in his late 30s.

Can you imagine a world without the music of Handel, Tchaikovsky, or Britten? These great composers of the past are just a few of many important musical figures who did not identify as heterosexual.

Learn more about Mexico’s most celebrated composers of the past and present. Here are 5 Mexican composers you should know because of their incredible contributions to the world of music.

Pieces of music that turned the art form into something it hadn’t seen.