maestro

American  

[mahy-stroh] / ˈmaɪ stroʊ /

noun

• maestros,
  plural
• maestri
  plural

1. an eminent composer, teacher, or conductor of music.

   Toscanini and other great maestros.

2. (initial capital letter) a title of respect used in addressing or referring to such a person.

3. a master of any art.

   the maestros of poetry.

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maestro British  

/ ˈmaɪstrəʊ /

noun

1. a distinguished music teacher, conductor, or musician

2. any man regarded as the master of an art: often used as a term of address

3. See maestro di cappella

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maestro Cultural  

1. A title for distinguished artists, especially those in music. It may be given to teachers, composers, conductors, or performers. Maestro is Italian for “master.”

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• maestri
  plural
• maestros
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of maestro

1790–1800; < Italian: master

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Explanation

A maestro is an artistic master: someone who is skilled enough to be considered an artistic genius. Taking one music class or art class can teach you a lot, but it won't make you a maestro. Maestro (which comes from Italian) is reserved for people with an enormous amount of skill and talent. This word can apply to any type of artist — and sometimes, to people with impressive skills in other areas — but it's most commonly applied to musicians. Master composers, pianists, cellists, guitarists, and conductors are often called maestros.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

maestro maestri maestros

That mindset has made him a horror maestro for over three decades.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 30, 2026

Statistics from the last Premier League season do not feature Manchester City maestro Rodri as he continued his return from a anterior cruciate ligament injury.

From BBC ● Jul. 23, 2026

I will miss watching the greatest maestro and savant in the history of basketball, LeBron James.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 4, 2026

Mr. Reynor, who recently had a thankless starring role in “Lee Cronin’s The Mummy,” is back on track as this arrogant but talented backstage maestro.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 28, 2026

In December 1511 she made an order for a set of stringed instruments for the Ferrara court which, Holman convincingly suggests, were ‘new design’ violins, invoiced to a maestro Sebastian of Verona.

From "The Story of Music" by Howard Goodall

Just as much, those maestri would defer to Mr. Drucker’s interpretations of clarinet solos.

From New York Times ● Dec. 20, 2022

As an example let us take the case of the radio maestri.

From Time Magazine Archive

And this piece of ecclesiastical furniture therefore presented a great field for the taste and ingenuity of the old maestri in wood-carving to exhibit their skill both in design and in execution.

From Lippincott's Magazine of Popular Literature and Science Volume 17, No. 102, June, 1876 by Various

It was established in one of the halls of the Lateran, and even the Carlovingian kings obtained from it skilful maestri and organists.

From Pagan and Christian Rome by Rodolfo Amedeo Lanciani

For five years now I've given up what I'd like to do, and I've tried, under the best maestri I could find, to make something out of my voice, so to speak.

From The Bent Twig by Dorothy Canfield Fisher

Only Swedish pop maestros Abba have breached the seven million mark since, making it an elite club.

From BBC ● Jul. 22, 2026

Donning video headsets and armed with nothing more than a joystick and the Olympics’ fastest fingers, these maestros have the exact same objective as the athlete they’re filming: to be the best in the world.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 13, 2026

This is not carefully considered maestros thinking out their strategies, six moves ahead of time.

From BBC ● Oct. 19, 2025

What might a young music director mean to an orchestra and to a city when an amazing crop of international and, for the first time, diverse young maestros and maestras is upon us?

From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 12, 2024

In the classical music world, 80 percent of the information available to the maestros was removed, and lo and behold, the maestros suddenly exercised much better judgment.

From "Blink" by Malcolm Gladwell

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Related Words

• composer
• conductor

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