A virtuoso (from Italian virtuoso, Late Latin virtuosus, Latin virtus meaning: skill, manliness, excellence) is an individual who possesses outstanding technical ability in the fine arts, at singing or playing a musical instrument. The plural form is either virtuosi or the Anglicisation, virtuosos, and the feminine form sometimes used is virtuosa. Virtuosi are often musical composers as well. During the age of Baroque music many composers were also virtuosi on their respective instruments.^{[citation needed]}

Music in the Western civilization by Piero Weiss and Richard Taruskin gives the following definition of virtuoso:

The defining element of virtuosity is the performance ability of the musician in question, who is capable of displaying feats of skill well above the average performer. Musicians focused on virtuosity are commonly^[vague] criticized for overlooking substance and emotion in favor of raw technical prowess. Despite the mechanical aspects of virtuosity, many virtuosi successfully avoid such labels^[vague]. Once^[vague] more commonly applied in the context of the fine arts, the term has since evolved^{[citation needed]} and can now also simply mean a 'master' or 'ace' who excels technically within a particular field or area of human knowledge—anyone especially or dazzlingly skilled at what they do.

David Norris Phelps (born October 21, 1969) is an American Christian vocalist, songwriter and vocal arranger, who is best known for singing tenor in the Gaither Vocal Band. He has also released several solo albums, including four Christmas collections. On January 13, 2008, Phelps appeared on Extreme Makeover Home Edition for the Woodhouse family.

David Phelps was born in Texas, to Gene and Mary Ella Phelps. Gene is a former accountant/banker who currently teaches business and finance at a college in Houston. Mary Ella is a retired English Professor. He has two older sisters, Sherri Proctor (who sings backup vocals for him when he tours) and Kari Lee (a professional trumpeter who tours with the Chicago-based Millar Brass Ensemble.)

Phelps grew up in Tomball, Texas near Houston and graduated from Tomball High School in 1988. He attended Baylor University, (where he directed the Baylor Religious Hour Choir) graduating in 1992 with a degree in music and vocal performance.

Phelps is a lyric tenor whose trademark is his large range, featuring an ability to sing in a high tessitura for sustained periods. Live recordings, whether by himself or with the Gaithers, indicate he has more than a three octave full voice range. In the first verse of "Just as I Am", from the album Revelation, Phelps sings an E2. This is attested by live performances. During a performance of "When God Dips His Love in My Heart", he ably sings an F5, full voice, and sustains it for a significant period of time. During his time with the Gaither Vocal Band, his high tessitura was employed often. He was introduced to Bill Gaither by Mark Lowry, who was (and is now again) the baritone in the group. Lowry brought Gaither a tape of Phelps. During a performance of "Let Freedom Ring" (originally recorded on their God Is Good CD), he ably sings an Db5 in full voice. In Studio his highest note ever is a C#6 the Soprano High C#6.^{[citation needed]}

Joe Pass (born Joseph Anthony Jacobi Passalaqua, January 13, 1929 – May 23, 1994) was an Italian-American jazz guitarist of Sicilian descent. He is generally considered to be one of the greatest jazz guitarists of the 20th century. His extensive use of walking basslines, melodic counterpoint during improvisation, use of a chord-melody style of play and outstanding knowledge of chord inversions and progressions opened up new possibilities for jazz guitar and had a profound influence on future guitarists.

Born in New Brunswick, New Jersey, Joe Pass, the son of Mariano Passalaqua, a Sicilian-born steel mill worker, was raised in Johnstown, Pennsylvania. Born into a non-musical family, Pass started to play the guitar after being inspired by actor Gene Autry's portrayal of a guitar-playing cowboy. He received his first guitar, a Harmony model bought for $17, on his 9th birthday. Pass' father recognized early that his son had "a little something happening" and pushed him constantly to pick up tunes by ear, play pieces not written specifically for the instrument, practice scales and not to "leave any spaces" - that is, to fill in the sonic space between the notes of the melody.