Mike Zachary is the former chairman of the music department at West Coast Baptist College in Lancaster, California. Prior to taking on that role, he studied piano performance at the American Conservatory of Music in Chicago, where he received his doctor of musical arts. As a professional in the music education industry, Mike Zachary is familiar with the works and influence of history’s most famous composers, such as Bach, Mozart, and Beethoven.

1. THREE OF HISTORY’S
MOST INFLUENTIAL
COMPOSERS
By Mike Zachary

2. Introduction
 Mike Zachary is the former chairman of the music department
at West Coast Baptist College in Lancaster, California. Prior
to taking on that role, he studied piano performance at the
American Conservatory of Music in Chicago, where he
received his doctor of musical arts. As a professional in the
music education industry, Mike Zachary is familiar with the
works and influence of history’s most famous composers,
such as Bach, Mozart, and Beethoven.
Born in 1685, German composer Johann Sebastian Bach
was primarily known as an accomplished organist during his
lifetime, and only came to be known as a brilliant composer in
the 1800s. Over the course of his career, Bach wrote
classical masterpieces such as Toccata and Fugue in D
Minor, as well as Mass in B Minor.

3. Influential Composers
 Born in 1756, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart composed
more than 100 works before his death at the age of
35. Among these works were the operas The Magic
Flute, Don Giovanni, and The Marriage of Figaro.
Additionally, his short serenade “Eine kleine
Nachtmusik” has become one of the most famous
classical pieces in history.
The works of Mozart, according to some scholars,
were an important influence on the composer Ludwig
van Beethoven, who created historic pieces such as
the Ninth Symphony, Moonlight Sonata, and Fur Elise.
Born in 1770, Beethoven struggled with deafness in
later life, during which time he composed many of his
most revered and lasting works.