Giulio Romano (c. 1499 – 1 November 1546) was an Italian painter and architect. A pupil of Raphael, his stylistic deviations from high Renaissance classicism help define the 16th-century style known as Mannerism. Giulio's drawings have long been treasured by collectors; contemporary prints of them engraved by Marcantonio Raimondi were a significant contribution to the spread of 16th-century Italian style throughout Europe.

Giulio Romano was born in Rome.

In his native city, as a young assistant in Raphael's studio, he worked on the frescos in the Vatican loggias to designs by Raphael and in Raphael's Stanze in the Vatican painted a group of figures in the Fire in the Borgo fresco. He also collaborated on the decoration of the ceiling of the Villa Farnesina. After the death of Raphael in 1520, he helped complete the Vatican frescoes of the life of Constantine as well as Raphael's Coronation of the Virgin and the Transfiguration in the Vatican. In Rome, Giulio decorated the Villa Madama for Cardinal Giuliano de' Medici, afterwards Clement VII. The crowded Giulio Romano frescoes lack the stately and serene simplicity of his master.

Antonio Forcione (born 1960) is hailed as the Jimi Hendrix of the acoustic guitar. He has won numerous awards, released 16 albums of largely original material and tours internationally in festivals and for charity performances and masterclass workshops.

He was born in a village on the Adriatic shore of Molise in southern Italy.. He first drew public attention at 13 when he toured Italy with his own band as a guitarist, mandolinist and drummer. A few years later he obtained a diploma in art and sculpture from the Art Institute in Ancona where he also studied percussion. For a further two years he studied harmony and mime in Rome, before moving to London in 1983.

Unable to speak English, he initially resorted to busking in the streets of London’s Covent Garden. Within 2 months he had won an award which led to a BBC television appearance before being whisked off to open for Barclay James Harvest on a major European tour, culminating in a concert at Wembley Arena. He never looked back. Since then he has worked in collaboration with many artists, touring the world in duo, trio and quartet formats such as The Antonio Forcione Quartet and in his duo with Brazilian percussionist Adriano Adewale. His latest group is AKA, a trio with Seiku Keita and Adriano Adewale. A prolific composer, most of the pieces performed are his own. He has also performed, double-billed/supported and recorded with artists such as Bobby McFerrin, Phil Collins, Jools Holland, Zucchero, Pino Daniele, Charlie Haden, John McLaughlin, Trilok Gurtu, Steps Ahead, Leo Kotke, Bireli Lagrene, Eduardo Niebla amongst others.

Michael Alden Hedges (December 31, 1953 – December 2, 1997) was an American composer, Acoustic guitarist and singer-songwriter.

Hedges attended Phillips University in Enid, Oklahoma, studying classical guitar.^{[citation needed]} It was here that he studied under his compositional mentor, E. J. Ulrich. Subsequently, from 1979 til 1982, Hedges was a composition major at Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore, Maryland who applied his classically-trained musical background in combination with various unusual techniques to the steel-string acoustic guitar. He covered a wide range of musical styles and was considered an extremely dynamic performer in concert. Michael made ends meet playing and singing in pubs and restaurants in the Baltimore Metro area during his tenure at Peabody. In 1980, he made plans to move to California to study music at Stanford University. He was discovered in February 1981 by William Ackerman who heard him performing at The Varsity Theater in Palo Alto and immediately signed him to a recording contract on the Windham Hill label. He was married to flautist Mindy Rosenfeld but the couple divorced in the late 1980s.