Percy Grainger

Percy Aldridge Grainger was born on July 8, 1882, in Brighton, Melbourne. After studying piano in Frankfurt, Grainger launched a sensational international concert career in London, becoming a celebrated interpreter of Grieg (who declared Grainger his preferred interpreter). In England, Grainger pioneered field recordings of traditional folk singers using the wax cylinder phonograph.

Settling in the United States, Grainger composed internationally famous works like Country Gardens and Molly on the Shore. Ahead of his time, he experimented with polymetric rhythms and microtones, inventing 'Free Music Machines'—early mechanical predecessors to analog synthesizers. He established the Grainger Museum at the University of Melbourne.