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

Etymology

Origin of maestro

1790–1800; < Italian: master

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

The new CEO came into the role as an operational maestro who would bring a critical eye to that vast portfolio of businesses.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 3, 2026

I was the director, the maestro, I called the shots.

From "Stargirl" by Jerry Spinelli

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

The art of Priscilla seems to me to satisfy this test much better than that of many of our modern maestri.

From Punch, or the London Charivari, Volume 159, July 7th, 1920 by Various

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

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

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

He delighted audiences at prestigious venues like Carnegie Hall and collaborated with jazz legends, Western classical orchestras, and Carnatic music maestros.

From BBC ● Dec. 16, 2024

At 56, Aguilar stands as one of the most respected maestros in contemporary Mexican music.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 16, 2024

In the case of the classical musicians’ auditions, the maestros were incapable of making a fair judgment about how well someone was playing if they could see them.

From "Blink" by Malcolm Gladwell

Related Words

• composer
• conductor