Orlando Gibbons

Throughout the late Tudor and early Jacobean periods, there was no conductor who held more sway then the English virginalist and organist Orlando Gibbons. He first got his start as a member of the Choir of King's College - where he received a bachelor of music degree - and then he served as organist for the Chapel Royal. Soon his virtuoso skill was made apparent and he started writing his own original compositions. His reliance on keyboard propelled instruments manifested itself in his wry music writing and to this day, he's regarded as one of the more important composers to have ever lived in the shape of a human being.