Contemporary classical music is

classical music Classical music generally refers to the art music of the Western world, considered to be distinct from Western folk music or popular music traditions. It is sometimes distinguished as Western classical music, as the term "classical music" also ...

composed close to the present day. At the beginning of the 21st century, it commonly referred to the post-1945

modern forms Modern may refer to: History * Modern history ** Early Modern period ** Late Modern period *** 18th century *** 19th century *** 20th century ** Contemporary history * Moderns, a faction of Freemasonry that existed in the 18th century Phil ...

post-tonal Atonality in its broadest sense is music that lacks a tonal center, or key. ''Atonality'', in this sense, usually describes compositions written from about the early 20th-century to the present day, where a hierarchy of harmonies focusing on a ...

music after the death of

Anton Webern Anton Friedrich Wilhelm von Webern (3 December 188315 September 1945), better known as Anton Webern (), was an Austrian composer and conductor whose music was among the most radical of its milieu in its sheer concision, even aphorism, and stead ...

, and included

serial music In music, serialism is a method of composition using series of pitches, rhythms, dynamics, timbres or other musical elements. Serialism began primarily with Arnold Schoenberg's twelve-tone technique, though some of his contemporaries were als ...

electronic music Electronic music is a genre of music that employs electronic musical instruments, digital instruments, or circuitry-based music technology in its creation. It includes both music made using electronic and electromechanical means ( electroac ...

experimental music Experimental music is a general label for any music or music genre that pushes existing boundaries and genre definitions. Experimental compositional practice is defined broadly by exploratory sensibilities radically opposed to, and questioning of, ...

, and minimalist music. Newer forms of music include

spectral music Spectral music uses the acoustic properties of sound – or sound spectra – as a basis for composition. Definition Defined in technical language, spectral music is an acoustic musical practice where compositional decisions are often inform ...

, and

post-minimalism Postminimalism is an art term coined (as post-minimalism) by Robert Pincus-Witten in 1971Chilvers, Ian and Glaves-Smith, John, ''A Dictionary of Modern and Contemporary Art'', second edition (Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 2009), p. ...

History

Background

At the beginning of the twentieth century, composers of classical music were experimenting with an increasingly

dissonant In music, consonance and dissonance are categorizations of simultaneous or successive Sound, sounds. Within the Western tradition, some listeners associate consonance with sweetness, pleasantness, and acceptability, and dissonance with harshness ...

pitch language, which sometimes yielded

atonal Atonality in its broadest sense is music that lacks a tonal center, or key. ''Atonality'', in this sense, usually describes compositions written from about the early 20th-century to the present day, where a hierarchy of harmonies focusing on a ...

pieces. Following World War I, as a backlash against what they saw as the increasingly exaggerated gestures and formlessness of late Romanticism, certain composers adopted a neoclassic style, which sought to recapture the balanced forms and clearly perceptible thematic processes of earlier styles (see also

New Objectivity The New Objectivity (in german: Neue Sachlichkeit) was a movement in German art that arose during the 1920s as a reaction against expressionism. The term was coined by Gustav Friedrich Hartlaub, the director of the ''Kunsthalle'' in Mannheim, who ...

and

Social Realism Social realism is the term used for work produced by painters, printmakers, photographers, writers and filmmakers that aims to draw attention to the real socio-political conditions of the working class as a means to critique the power structure ...

). After World War II, modernist composers sought to achieve greater levels of control in their composition process (e.g., through the use of the

twelve-tone technique The twelve-tone technique—also known as dodecaphony, twelve-tone serialism, and (in British usage) twelve-note composition—is a method of musical composition first devised by Austrian composer Josef Matthias Hauer, who published his "law o ...

and later total

serialism In music, serialism is a method of Musical composition, composition using series of pitches, rhythms, dynamics, timbres or other elements of music, musical elements. Serialism began primarily with Arnold Schoenberg's twelve-tone technique, thou ...

). At the same time, conversely, composers also experimented with means of abdicating control, exploring indeterminacy or aleatoric processes in smaller or larger degrees. Technological advances led to the birth of electronic music. Experimentation with tape loops and repetitive textures contributed to the advent of

minimalism In visual arts, music and other media, minimalism is an art movement that began in post–World War II in Western art, most strongly with American visual arts in the 1960s and early 1970s. Prominent artists associated with minimalism include Don ...

. Still other composers started exploring the theatrical potential of the musical performance (

performance art Performance art is an artwork or art exhibition created through actions executed by the artist or other participants. It may be witnessed live or through documentation, spontaneously developed or written, and is traditionally presented to a pu ...

mixed media In visual art, mixed media describes artwork in which more than one medium or material has been employed. Assemblages, collages, and sculpture are three common examples of art using different media. Materials used to create mixed media art incl ...

fluxus Fluxus was an international, interdisciplinary community of artists, composers, designers and poets during the 1960s and 1970s who engaged in experimental art performances which emphasized the artistic process over the finished product. Fluxus ...

). New works of contemporary classical music continue to be created. Each year, the

Boston Conservatory at Berklee Boston Conservatory at Berklee (formerly The Boston Conservatory) is a private performing arts conservatory in Boston, Massachusetts. It grants undergraduate and graduate degrees in dance, music, and theater. Boston Conservatory was founde ...

presents 700 performances. New works from contemporary classical music program students comprise roughly 150 of these performances.

1945–75

To some extent, European and the US traditions diverged after World War II. Among the most influential composers in Europe were

Pierre Boulez Pierre Louis Joseph Boulez (; 26 March 1925 – 5 January 2016) was a French composer, conductor and writer, and the founder of several musical institutions. He was one of the dominant figures of post-war Western classical music. Born in Mont ...

Luigi Nono Luigi Nono (; 29 January 1924 – 8 May 1990) was an Italian avant-garde composer of classical music. Biography Early years Nono, born in Venice, was a member of a wealthy artistic family; his grandfather was a notable painter. Nono beg ...

, and

Karlheinz Stockhausen Karlheinz Stockhausen (; 22 August 1928 – 5 December 2007) was a German composer, widely acknowledged by critics as one of the most important but also controversial composers of the 20th and early 21st centuries. He is known for his groun ...

. The first and last were both pupils of

Olivier Messiaen Olivier Eugène Prosper Charles Messiaen (, ; ; 10 December 1908 – 27 April 1992) was a French composer, organist, and ornithologist who was one of the major composers of the 20th century. His music is rhythmically complex; harmonically ...

. An important aesthetic philosophy as well as a group of compositional techniques at this time was

(also called "through-ordered music", "'total' music" or "total tone ordering"), which took as its starting point the compositions of

Arnold Schoenberg Arnold Schoenberg or Schönberg (, ; ; 13 September 187413 July 1951) was an Austrian-American composer, music theorist, teacher, writer, and painter. He is widely considered one of the most influential composers of the 20th century. He was as ...

and

(but was opposed to traditional twelve-tone music), and was also closely related to

Le Corbusier Charles-Édouard Jeanneret (6 October 188727 August 1965), known as Le Corbusier ( , , ), was a Swiss-French architect, designer, painter, urban planner, writer, and one of the pioneers of what is now regarded as modern architecture. He was ...

's idea of the ''

modulor The Modulor is an anthropometric scale of proportions devised by the Swiss-born French architect Le Corbusier (1887–1965). It was developed as a visual bridge between two incompatible scales, the Imperial and the metric systems. It is based ...

''. However, some more traditionally based composers such as

Dmitri Shostakovich Dmitri Dmitriyevich Shostakovich, , group=n (9 August 1975) was a Soviet-era Russian composer and pianist who became internationally known after the premiere of his Symphony No. 1 (Shostakovich), First Symphony in 1926 and was regarded throug ...

and

Benjamin Britten Edward Benjamin Britten, Baron Britten (22 November 1913 – 4 December 1976, aged 63) was an English composer, conductor, and pianist. He was a central figure of 20th-century British music, with a range of works including opera, other ...

maintained a tonal style of composition despite the prominent serialist movement. In America, composers like Milton Babbitt, John Cage,

Elliott Carter Elliott Cook Carter Jr. (December 11, 1908 – November 5, 2012) was an American modernist composer. One of the most respected composers of the second half of the 20th century, he combined elements of European modernism and American "ultra- ...

, Henry Cowell,

Philip Glass Philip Glass (born January 31, 1937) is an American composer and pianist. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential composers of the late 20th century. Glass's work has been associated with minimal music, minimalism, being built up fr ...

Steve Reich Stephen Michael Reich ( ; born October 3, 1936) is an American composer known for his contribution to the development of minimal music in the mid to late 1960s. Reich's work is marked by its use of repetitive figures, slow harmonic rhythm, a ...

George Rochberg George Rochberg (July 5, 1918May 29, 2005) was an American composer of contemporary classical music. Long a serial composer, Rochberg abandoned the practice following the death of his teenage son in 1964; he claimed this compositional techniqu ...

, and

Roger Sessions Roger Huntington Sessions (December 28, 1896March 16, 1985) was an American composer, teacher and musicologist. He had initially started his career writing in a neoclassical style, but gradually moved further towards more complex harmonies and ...

, formed their own ideas. Some of these composers (Cage, Cowell, Glass, Reich) represented a new methodology of

, which began to question fundamental notions of music such as

notation In linguistics and semiotics, a notation is a system of graphics or symbols, characters and abbreviated expressions, used (for example) in artistic and scientific disciplines to represent technical facts and quantities by convention. Therefore, ...

performance A performance is an act of staging or presenting a play, concert, or other form of entertainment. It is also defined as the action or process of carrying out or accomplishing an action, task, or function. Management science In the work place ...

, duration, and repetition, while others (Babbitt, Rochberg, Sessions) fashioned their own extensions of the twelve-tone serialism of Schoenberg.

Movements

Neoromanticism

The vocabulary of extended tonality, which flourished in the late 19th and very early 20th centuries, continues to be used by contemporary composers. It has never been considered shocking or controversial in the larger musical world—as has been demonstrated statistically for the United States, at least, where "most composers continued working in what has remained throughout this century the mainstream of tonal-oriented composition".

High modernism

Serialism In music, serialism is a method of Musical composition, composition using series of pitches, rhythms, dynamics, timbres or other elements of music, musical elements. Serialism began primarily with Arnold Schoenberg's twelve-tone technique, thou ...

is one of the most important post-war movements among the high modernist schools. Serialism, more specifically named "integral" or "compound" serialism, was led by composers such as

Bruno Maderna Bruno Maderna (21 April 1920 – 13 November 1973) was an Italian conductor and composer. Life Maderna was born Bruno Grossato in Venice but later decided to take the name of his mother, Caterina Carolina Maderna.Interview with Maderna‘s th ...

, and

in Europe, and by Milton Babbitt,

Donald Martino Donald James Martino (May 16, 1931 – December 8, 2005) was a Pulitzer Prize winning American composer. Biography Born in Plainfield, New Jersey, Martino attended Plainfield High School. He began as a clarinetist, playing jazz for fun and ...

Mario Davidovsky Mario Davidovsky (March 4, 1934 – August 23, 2019) was an Argentine-American composer. Born in Argentina, he emigrated in 1960 to the United States, where he lived for the remainder of his life. He is best known for his series of compositions ca ...

, and Charles Wuorinen in the United States. Some of their compositions use an ordered set or several such sets, which may be the basis for the whole composition, while others use "unordered" sets. The term is also often used for

dodecaphony The twelve-tone technique—also known as dodecaphony, twelve-tone serialism, and (in British usage) twelve-note composition—is a method of musical composition first devised by Austrian composer Josef Matthias Hauer, who published his "law o ...

, or

, which is alternatively regarded as the model for integral serialism. Despite its decline in the last third of the 20th century, there remained at the end of the century an active core of composers who continued to advance the ideas and forms of high modernism. Those no longer living included

Pauline Oliveros Pauline Oliveros (May 30, 1932 – November 24, 2016) was an American composer, accordionist and a central figure in the development of post-war experimental and electronic music. She was a founding member of the San Francisco Tape Music Cente ...

Toru Takemitsu TORU or Toru may refer to: * TORU, spacecraft system * Toru (given name), Japanese male given name * Toru, Pakistan, village in Mardan District of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan *Tõru Tõru is a village in Saaremaa Parish, Saare County in western ...

Jacob Druckman Jacob Raphael Druckman (June 26, 1928 – May 24, 1996) was an American composer born in Philadelphia. Life A graduate of the Juilliard School in 1956, Druckman studied with Vincent Persichetti, Peter Mennin, and Bernard Wagenaar. In 1949 and 1 ...

George Perle George Perle (6 May 1915 – 23 January 2009) was an American composer and music theorist. As a composer, his music was largely atonal, using methods similar to the twelve-tone technique of the Second Viennese School. This serialist style, and ...

Ralph Shapey Ralph Shapey (12 March 1921 – 13 June 2002) was an American composer and conductor. Biography Shapey was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He is known for his work as a composition professor at the University of Chicago, where he taught ...

Franco Donatoni Franco Donatoni (9 June 1927 – 17 August 2000) was an Italian composer. Biography Born in Verona, Donatoni started studying violin at the age of seven, and frequented the local music academy. Later, he studied at the Milan Conservatory ...

, Jonathan Harvey, Erkki Salmenhaara, and

Henrik Otto Donner Henrik Otto Donner (16 November 1939 – 26 June 2013) was a Finnish composer, musician and all-round music personality. His musical styles varied from pop and rock music to jazz, electronic music and contemporary classical music. Donner's person ...

, Those still living today include

Magnus Lindberg Magnus Gustaf Adolf Lindberg (born 27 June 1958) is a Finnish composer and pianist. He was the New York Philharmonic's composer-in-residence from 2009 to 2012 and has been the London Philharmonic Orchestra's composer-in-residence since the beg ...

, George Benjamin, Brian Ferneyhough,

Wolfgang Rihm Wolfgang Rihm (born 13 March 1952) is a German composer and academic teacher. He is musical director of the Institute of New Music and Media at the University of Music Karlsruhe and has been composer in residence at the Lucerne Festival and the Sa ...

Richard Wernick Richard Wernick (born January 16, 1934, in Boston, Massachusetts) is an American composer. He is best known for his chamber and vocal works. His composition ''Visions of Terror and Wonder'' won the 1977 Pulitzer Prize for Music. Career Wernick b ...

, Richard Wilson, and

James MacMillan Sir James Loy MacMillan, (born 16 July 1959) is a Scottish classical composer and conductor. Early life MacMillan was born at Kilwinning, in North Ayrshire, but lived in the East Ayrshire town of Cumnock until 1977. His father is James MacMi ...

Electronic music

= Computer music

= Between 1975 and 1990, a shift in the paradigm of

computer A computer is a machine that can be programmed to Execution (computing), carry out sequences of arithmetic or logical operations (computation) automatically. Modern digital electronic computers can perform generic sets of operations known as C ...

technology had taken place, making electronic music systems affordable and widely accessible. The personal computer had become an essential component of the electronic musician's equipment, superseding

analog Analog or analogue may refer to: Computing and electronics * Analog signal, in which information is encoded in a continuous variable ** Analog device, an apparatus that operates on analog signals *** Analog electronics, circuits which use analog ...

synthesizer A synthesizer (also spelled synthesiser) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis and ...

s and fulfilling the traditional functions of composition and scoring, synthesis and sound processing, sampling of audio input, and control over external equipment.

Music theatre

Spectral music

Polystylism (eclecticism)

Some authors equate polystylism with

eclecticism Eclecticism is a conceptual approach that does not hold rigidly to a single paradigm or set of assumptions, but instead draws upon multiple theories, styles, or ideas to gain complementary insights into a subject, or applies different theories i ...

, while others make a sharp distinction.

Post-modernism

Minimalism and post-minimalism

Historicism

Musical historicism Musical historicism signifies the use in classical music of historical materials, structures, styles, techniques, media, conceptual content, etc., whether by a single composer or those associated with a particular school, movement, or period. Mus ...

—the use of historical materials, structures, styles, techniques, media, conceptual content, etc., whether by a single composer or those associated with a particular school, movement, or period—is evident to varying degrees in minimalism, post-minimalism, world-music, and other genres in which tonal traditions have been sustained or have undergone a significant revival in recent decades. Some post-minimalist works employ medieval and other genres associated with early music, such as the "Oi me lasso" and other laude of

Gavin Bryars Richard Gavin Bryars (; born 16 January 1943) is an English composer and double bassist. He has worked in jazz, free improvisation, minimalism, historicism, avant-garde, and experimental music. Early life and career Born on 16 January 1943 in ...

. The historicist movement is closely related to the emergence of musicology and the

early music revival :''See Historically informed performance for a more detailed explanation of this topic.'' The general discussion of how to perform music from ancient or earlier times did not become an important subject of interest until the 19th century, when E ...

. A number of historicist composers have been influenced by their intimate familiarity with the instrumental practices of earlier periods (

Hendrik Bouman Hendrik "Henk" Bouman (born 29 September 1951, in Dordrecht)David Cummings, International Who's Who In Music And Musicians' Directory 1994/5, page 92 is a Dutch harpsichordist, fortepianist, conductor and composer of music written in the baroqu ...

Grant Colburn Grant Colburn (born in Wisconsin in 1966) is an American composer, pianist and harpsichordist. He studied harpsichord with Igor Kipnis and composition with Irwin Sonenfield. He is the author of six published collections of neo-baroque and neo-rena ...

, Michael Talbot,

Paulo Galvão Paulo Galvão (born 1967 in Portimão, Algarve, Portugal) is a composer, lutenist, theorbist and guitarist. According to Dan Hill, Galvão has published "Musical hoax, musical forgeries" for baroque guitar under the name "Antonio da Costa". Galvão' ...

Roman Turovsky-Savchuk Roman Turovsky-Savchuk (Ukrainian: Роман Туровський-Савчук) is an American artist-painter, photographer and videoinstallation artist, as well as a lutenist-composer,

). The musical historicism movement has also been stimulated by the formation of such international organizations as the

Delian Society The Delian Society was an international community of composers, performers, academics, independent scholars, recording engineers, music publishers, and amateurs dedicated to revitalizing and promoting tonality in contemporary art music. The socie ...

and

Vox Saeculorum ''Vox Sæculorum'' is an international society of contemporary composers writing in the Baroque style established in 2006. Vox Sæculorum was the primary focus of a feature-length article on period baroque composition written by Grant Colburn and pu ...

Art rock influence

Some composers have emerged since the 1980s who are influenced by

art rock Art rock is a subgenre of rock music that generally reflects a challenging or avant-garde approach to rock, or which makes use of modernist, experimental, or unconventional elements. Art rock aspires to elevate rock from entertainment to an art ...

, for example,

Rhys Chatham Rhys Chatham (born September 19, 1952) is an American composer, guitarist, trumpet player, multi-instrumentalist (flutes in C, alto and bass, keyboard), primarily active in avant-garde and minimalism, minimalist music. He is best known for his "g ...

New Simplicity

New Complexity

New Complexity is a current within today's European contemporary avant-garde music scene, named in reaction to the New Simplicity. Amongst the candidates suggested for having coined the term are the composer

Nigel Osborne Nigel Osborne (born 23 June 1948) is a British composer, teacher and aid worker. He served as Reid Professor of Music at the University of Edinburgh and has also taught at the Hochschule für Musik, Theater und Medien Hannover. He is known f ...

, the Belgian musicologist

Harry Halbreich Harry Halbreich (Berlin, 9 February 1931 – Brussels, 27 June 2016) was a Belgian musicologist.Dust jacket biography of Harry Halbreich from #Halbreich2007, Halbreich (2007).Patrick Szersnovicz. Harry Halbreich (obituary). ''Diapason (magazine), ...

, and the British/Australian musicologist

Richard Toop Richard Toop (1945 – 19 June 2017) was a British-Australian musicologist. Toop was born in Chichester, England, in 1945. He studied at Hull University, where his teachers included Denis Arnold. In 1973 he became Karlheinz Stockhausen's teach ...

, who gave currency to the concept of a movement with his article "Four Facets of the New Complexity". Though often

, highly abstract, and

in sound, the "New Complexity" is most readily characterized by the use of techniques which require complex

musical notation Music notation or musical notation is any system used to visually represent aurally perceived music played with instruments or sung by the human voice through the use of written, printed, or otherwise-produced symbols, including notation fo ...

. This includes

extended technique In music, extended technique is unconventional, unorthodox, or non-traditional methods of singing or of playing musical instruments employed to obtain unusual sounds or timbres.Burtner, Matthew (2005).Making Noise: Extended Techniques after Exper ...

microtonality Microtonal music or microtonality is the use in music of microtones—interval (music), intervals smaller than a semitone, also called "microintervals". It may also be extended to include any music using intervals not found in the customary Wes ...

, odd tunings, highly disjunct

melodic contour Melodic motion is the quality of movement of a melody, including nearness or farness of successive pitches or notes in a melody. This may be described as conjunct or disjunct, stepwise, skipwise or no movement, respectively. See also contrapunta ...

, innovative

timbre In music, timbre ( ), also known as tone color or tone quality (from psychoacoustics), is the perceived sound quality of a musical note, sound or musical tone, tone. Timbre distinguishes different types of sound production, such as choir voice ...

s, complex

polyrhythms Polyrhythm is the simultaneous use of two or more rhythms that are not readily perceived as deriving from one another, or as simple manifestations of the same meter. The rhythmic layers may be the basis of an entire piece of music (cross-rhyth ...

, unconventional instrumentations, abrupt changes in loudness and intensity, and so on. The diverse group of composers writing in this style includes Richard Barrett, Brian Ferneyhough,

Claus-Steffen Mahnkopf Claus-Steffen Mahnkopf (born 22 October 1962) is a German composer, editor and author. Career Claus-Steffen Mahnkopf was born in Mannheim, Germany, and studied composition with Brian Ferneyhough, Klaus Huber and Emanuel Nunes and music theory ...

, James Dillon, Michael Finnissy,

James Erber James Erber (born 1951) is a British composer of the New Complexity school. Born in London, Erber studied music at the universities of Sussex and Nottingham, and worked in music publishing from 1976 to 1979. His first work, ''Seguente'' for ob ...

, and

Roger Redgate Roger Redgate is a British composer, conductor and improvisor. He attended the Royal College of Music, studying with Edwin Roxburgh and Lawrence Casserley. Under a DAAD (German Academic Exchange) scholarship he also studied with Brian Ferneyho ...

Developments by medium

Opera

Notable composers of operas since 1975 include: *

Michel van der Aa Michel van der Aa (; born 10 March 1970) is a Dutch composer of contemporary classical music. Early years Michel van der Aa was born 10 March 1970 in Oss. He trained as a recording engineer at the Royal Conservatory of The Hague, and studie ...

Mark Adamo Mark may refer to: Currency * Bosnia and Herzegovina convertible mark, the currency of Bosnia and Herzegovina * East German mark, the currency of the German Democratic Republic * Estonian mark, the currency of Estonia between 1918 and 1927 * Fin ...

John Adams John Adams (October 30, 1735 – July 4, 1826) was an American statesman, attorney, diplomat, writer, and Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father who served as the second president of the United States from 1797 to 1801. Befor ...

Thomas Adès Thomas Joseph Edmund Adès (born 1 March 1971) is a British composer, pianist and conductor. Five compositions by Adès received votes in the 2017 Classic Voice poll of the greatest works of art music since 2000: '' The Tempest'' (2004), '' ...

Miguel del Águila Miguel del Águila (born September 15, 1957) is an Uruguayan-born, American composer of contemporary classical music. Life Miguel del Águila (also spelled Miguel del Aguila), was born in Montevideo. In 1978, del Águila moved to California ...

Bruce Adolphe Bruce Adolphe (born May 31, 1955) is a composer, music scholar, the author of several books on music, and pianist. He is currently Resident Lecturer and Director of Family Concerts of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center and founder and cre ...

Robert Ashley Robert Reynolds Ashley (March 28, 1930 – March 3, 2014) was an American composer, who was best known for his television operas and other theatrical works, many of which incorporate electronics and extended techniques. His works often involve i ...

Lera Auerbach Lera Auerbach (russian: Лера Авербах, born Valeria Lvovna Averbakh, russian: Валерия Львовна Авербах; October 21, 1973) is a Soviet-born American classical composer and concert pianist.

* Gerald Barry * George Benjamin * Tim Benjamin *

Luciano Berio Luciano Berio (24 October 1925 – 27 May 2003) was an Italian composer noted for his experimental work (in particular his 1968 composition ''Sinfonia'' and his series of virtuosic solo pieces titled '' Sequenza''), and for his pioneering work ...

Michael Berkeley Michael Fitzhardinge Berkeley, Baron Berkeley of Knighton, (born 29 May 1948) is an English composer, broadcaster on music and member of the House of Lords. Early life Berkeley is the eldest of the three sons of Elizabeth Freda (née Bernstein ...

* Oscar Bianchi *

Harrison Birtwistle Sir Harrison Birtwistle (15 July 1934 – 18 April 2022) was an English composer of contemporary classical music best known for his operas, often based on mythological subjects. Among his many compositions, his better known works include '' T ...

* Antonio Braga *

Rudolf Brucci Rudolf Brucci (Bruči) (March 30, 1917 – October 30, 2002), was a composer of Croatian and Italian origin, born in Zagreb. He was married to Yugoslavian opera singer, . He began his artistic life playing viola in various orchestras, ranging from ...

* John Cage *

Roberto Carnevale Roberto Carnevale (born 15 June 1966) is an Italian composer, pianist and conductor. Biography and career Born in Catania, he started studying piano at the age of seven. He took a degree in Arts at the University of Catania and he attended th ...

Daniel Catán Daniel Catán Porteny (April 3, 1949 – April 9, 2011) was a Mexican composer, writer and professor known particularly for his operas and his contribution of the Spanish language to the international repertory. With a compositional style ...

Tom Cipullo Tom Cipullo (born November 22, 1956) is an American composer. Known mostly for vocal music, he has also composed orchestral, chamber, and solo instrumental works. His opera, ''Glory Denied'', has been performed to critical acclaim in New York, W ...

Azio Corghi Azio Corghi (9 March 1937 – 17 November 2022) was an Italian composer, academic teacher and musicologist. He composed mostly operas and chamber music. His operas are often based on literature, especially in collaboration with José Saramago ...

* Michael Daugherty *

Peter Maxwell Davies Sir Peter Maxwell Davies (8 September 1934 – 14 March 2016) was an English composer and conductor, who in 2004 was made Master of the Queen's Music. As a student at both the University of Manchester and the Royal Manchester College of Musi ...

* Julius Eastman *

John Eaton John Eaton may refer to: * John Eaton (divine) (born 1575), English divine * John Eaton (pirate) (fl. 1683–1686), English buccaneer *Sir John Craig Eaton (1876–1922), Canadian businessman * John Craig Eaton II (born 1937), Canadian businessman ...

Oscar Edelstein Oscar Edelstein (born 12 June 1953) is a contemporary composer from Argentina. Known for creativity and inventiveness, frequently he is described as leading Latin America's avant-garde. He is also a pianist, conductor, and researcher. Biogra ...

Marios Joannou Elia Marios Joannou Elia (born 19 June 1978), is a Cypriot composer and artistic director. He was the youngest director in the history of the European Capital of Culture (2013–15). He is ambassador in tourism of the Republic of Cyprus. Since 201 ...

Péter Eötvös Péter Eötvös ( hu, Eötvös Péter, ; born 2 January 1944) is a Hungarian composer, conductor and teacher. Eötvös was born in Székelyudvarhely, Transylvania, then part of Hungary, now Romania. He studied composition in Budapest and Colog ...

Mohammed Fairouz Mohammed Fairouz (born November 1, 1985) is an American composer. He is one of the most frequently performed composers of his generation and has been described by Daniel J. Wakin of ''The New York Times'' as an "important new artistic voice". Fa ...

* Brian Ferneyhough *

Lorenzo Ferrero Lorenzo Ferrero (; born 1951) is an Italian composer, librettist, author, and book editor. He started composing at an early age and has written over a hundred compositions thus far, including twelve operas, three ballets, and numerous orchestral ...

* Juan Carlos Figueiras *

Luca Francesconi Luca Francesconi (born 17 March 1956) is an Italian composer. He studied at the Milan Conservatory, then with Karlheinz Stockhausen and Luciano Berio. Early years Luca Francesconi was born in Milan. His father was a painter who edited ''Il ...

Elliot Goldenthal Elliot Goldenthal (born May 2, 1954) is an American composer of contemporary classical music and film and theatrical scores. A student of Aaron Copland and John Corigliano, he is best known for his distinctive style and ability to blend various ...

Ricky Ian Gordon Ricky Ian Gordon (born May 15, 1956) is an American composer of art song, opera and musical theatre. Life Gordon was born in Oceanside, New York. He was raised by his mother, Eve, and father, Sam, and he grew up on Long Island with his three sist ...

Daron Hagen Daron Aric Hagen ( ; born November 4, 1961) is an American composer, writer, and filmmaker. Biography Early life Daron Hagen was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and grew up in New Berlin, a suburb west of Milwaukee. Hagen was the youngest of t ...

Hans Werner Henze Hans Werner Henze (1 July 1926 – 27 October 2012) was a German composer. His large oeuvre of works is extremely varied in style, having been influenced by serialism, atonality, Stravinsky, Italian music, Arabic music and jazz, as well as ...

* Bern Herbolsheimer *

York Höller York Höller (; born 11 January 1944) is a German composer and professor of composition at the Hochschule für Musik Köln. Biography Höller was born in Leverkusen. Between 1963 and 1970 he studied at the Cologne Musikhochschule: composition wit ...

Giselher Klebe Giselher Wolfgang Klebe (28 June 19255 October 2009) was a German composer, and an academic teacher. He composed more than 140 works, among them 14 operas, all based on literary works, eight symphonies, 15 solo concerts, chamber music, piano w ...

Helmut Lachenmann Helmut Friedrich Lachenmann (born 27 November 1935) is a German composer of contemporary classical music. His work has been associated with "instrumental musique concrète". Life and works Lachenmann was born in Stuttgart and after the end of ...

Lori Laitman Lori Laitman is an American composer who has composed multiple operas, choral works, and over 300 songs. Life Laitman was born in Long Beach, New York, in 1955.

* André Laporte *

György Ligeti György Sándor Ligeti (; ; 28 May 1923 – 12 June 2006) was a Hungarian-Austrian composer of contemporary classical music. He has been described as "one of the most important avant-garde composers in the latter half of the twentieth century ...

Liza Lim Liza Lim (born 30 August 1966) is an Australian composer. Lim writes concert music ( chamber and orchestral works) as well as music theatre and has collaborated with artists on a number of installation and video projects. Her work reflects her i ...

David T. Little David T. Little (born October 25, 1978) is a Grammy-nominated American composer, record producer, and drummer known for his operatic, orchestral, and chamber works, most notably his operas ''JFK (opera), JFK,'' ''Soldier Songs'', and ''Dog Days ( ...

* Luca Lombardi *

Missy Mazzoli Missy Mazzoli (born October 27, 1980) is an American composer and pianist who is a member of the composition faculty at the Mannes College of Music. She has received critical acclaim for her chamber, orchestral and operatic work. In 2018 she beca ...

Richard Meale Richard Graham Meale, AM, MBE (24 August 193223 November 2009) was an Australian composer of instrumental works and operas. Biography Meale was born in Sydney. At the time the Meale family lived in Marrickville, an inner suburb of Sydney. Meale ...

Robert Moran Robert Moran (born January 8, 1937) is an American composer of operas and ballets as well as numerous orchestral, vocal, chamber and dance works. Life A native of Denver, Moran studied twelve-tone music privately with Hans Apostel in Vienna an ...

Nico Muhly Nico Asher Muhly (; born August 26, 1981) is an American contemporary classical music composer and arranger who has worked and recorded with both classical and pop musicians. A prolific composer, he has composed for many notable symphony orchestras ...

Olga Neuwirth Olga Neuwirth (born 4 August 1968 in Graz) is an Austrian classical composer, visual artist and author. She gained fame mainly through her operas and music theater works, which often deal with topical and decidedly political themes of identity, ...

Per Nørgård Per Nørgård (; born 13 July 1932) is a Danish composer and music theorist. Though his style has varied considerably throughout his career, his music has often included repeatedly evolving melodies—such as the infinity series—in the vein o ...

Michael Nyman Michael Laurence Nyman, Order of the British Empire, CBE (born 23 March 1944) is an English composer, pianist, libretto, librettist, musicologist, and filmmaker. He is known for numerous film soundtrack, scores (many written during his length ...

* Michael Obst * Jocy de Oliveira *

Marcus Paus Marcus Nicolay Paus (; born 14 October 1979) is a Norwegian composer and one of the most performed contemporary Scandinavian composers. As a classical contemporary composer he is noted as a representative of a reorientation toward tradition, tonal ...

Henri Pousseur Henri Léon Marie-Thérèse Pousseur (23 June 1929 – 6 March 2009) was a Belgian classical composer, teacher, and music theorist. Biography Pousseur was born in Malmedy and studied at the Academies of Music in Liège and in Brussels from 1947 t ...

Kevin Puts Kevin Matthew Puts (born January 3, 1972) is an American composer, best known for winning a Pulitzer Prize in 2012 for his first opera, ''Silent Night''. Early life and education Puts was born in St. Louis, Missouri, and grew up in Alma, Michi ...

Einojuhani Rautavaara Einojuhani Rautavaara (; 9 October 1928 – 27 July 2016) was a Finnish composer of classical music. Among the most notable Finnish composers since Jean Sibelius (1865–1957), Rautavaara wrote a great number of works spanning various styles. ...

Kaija Saariaho Kaija Anneli Saariaho (; ; born 14 October 1952) is a Finnish composer based in Paris, France. During the course of her career, Saariaho has received commissions from the Lincoln Center for the Kronos Quartet and from IRCAM for the Ensemble Inte ...

Aulis Sallinen Aulis Sallinen (born 9 April 1935) is a Finnish contemporary classical music composer. His music has been variously described as "remorselessly harsh", a "beautifully crafted amalgam of several 20th-century styles", and "neo-romantic". Sallinen ...

* Carol Sams *

David Sawer David Sawer (born 14 September 1961), is a British composer of opera and choral, orchestral and chamber music. Biography Sawer was born in Stockport, England. After attending Ipswich School, he studied music at the University of York where he b ...

* Howard Shore *

Louis Siciliano Louis Siciliano (born in Naples, Italy - March 19, 1975) is a Jazz and World-Music composer, piano and synth performer, sound engineer and music producer. Career Siciliano produced, composed, orchestrated, conducted and mixed soundtracks for fe ...

Somtow Sucharitkul S. P. Somtow (a rearrangement of his real name Somtow Papinian Sucharitkul; th, สมเถา สุจริตกุล; ; born 30 December 1952) is a Thai-American musical composer. He is also a science fiction, fantasy, and horror autho ...

Josef Tal Josef Tal ( he, יוסף טל; September 18, 1910 – August 25, 2008) was an Israeli composer. He wrote three Hebrew operas; four German operas, dramatic scenes; six symphonies; 13 concerti; chamber music, including three string quartets; ...

* Stefano Vagnini *

Claude Vivier Claude Vivier ( ; baptised as Claude Roger; 14 April 19487 March 1983) was a Canadian contemporary composer, pianist, poet and ethnomusicologist of Québécois origin. After studying with Karlheinz Stockhausen in Cologne, Vivier became an in ...

Judith Weir Judith Weir (born 11 May 1954) is a British composer serving as Master of the King's Music. Appointed in 2014 by Queen Elizabeth II, Weir is the first woman to hold this office. Biography Weir was born in Cambridge, England, to Scottish paren ...

Cinema and television

Notable composers of post-1945 classical film and television scores include:Craggs, Stewart R. 2020 ''Soundtracks. International Dictionary of Composers of Music for Film'' *

Michael Abels Michael Abels (born October 8, 1962) is an American composer best known for his genre-defying scores for the Jordan Peele films ''Get Out'' and '' Us'', for which Abels won a World Soundtrack Award, the Jerry Goldsmith Award, a Critics Choice n ...

Elmer Bernstein Elmer Bernstein ( '; April 4, 1922August 18, 2004) was an American composer and conductor. In a career that spanned over five decades, he composed "some of the most recognizable and memorable themes in Hollywood history", including over 150 origi ...

Howard Blake Howard David Blake (born 28 October 1938) is an English composer, conductor, and pianist whose career has spanned more than 50 years and produced more than 650 works. Blake's most successful work is his soundtrack for Channel 4’s 1982 film ' ...

Bruce Broughton Bruce Harold Broughton (born March 8, 1945) is an American orchestral composer of television, film, and video game scores and concert works. He has composed several highly acclaimed soundtracks over his extensive career and has contributed man ...

Aaron Copland Aaron Copland (, ; November 14, 1900December 2, 1990) was an American composer, composition teacher, writer, and later a conductor of his own and other American music. Copland was referred to by his peers and critics as "the Dean of American Com ...

John Debney John Cardon Debney (born August 18, 1956) is an American composer and conductor of film, television, and video game scores. His work encompasses a variety of mediums and genres including comedy, horror, thriller, and action-adventure. He is a ...

Alexandre Desplat Alexandre Michel Gérard Desplat (; born 23 August 1961) is a French film composer and conductor. He has won many awards, including two Academy Awards, for his musical scores to the films '' The Grand Budapest Hotel'' and '' The Shape of Water'' ...

Ramin Djawadi Ramin Djawadi (, fa, رامین جوادی; born 19 July 1974) is an Iranian and German score composer. He is known for his scores for the 2008 Marvel film ''Iron Man'' and the HBO series ''Game of Thrones'', for which he was nominated for Gramm ...

Danny Elfman Daniel Robert Elfman (born May 29, 1953) is an American film composer, singer and songwriter. He came to prominence as the singer-songwriter for the new wave band Oingo Boingo in the early 1980s. Since the 1990s, Elfman has garnered internation ...

Brad Fiedel Brad Ira Fiedel (born March 10, 1951) is an American composer of scores for film and television. He is well known for his collaborations with director James Cameron on ''The Terminator'' (1984) and its blockbuster sequel, '' Terminator 2: Judgmen ...

Robert Folk Robert Folk (born March 5, 1949) is an American film and television composer and conductor who has written many movie scores, as well as other orchestral music in a classical style. Life and career Robert Folk is a graduate and former facult ...

* Benjamin Frankel *

Michael Giacchino Michael Giacchino (; born October 10, 1967) is an American composer of music for films, television and video games. He has also served as a director for television. He has received many awards, including an Oscar for his work on '' Up'' (2009), ...

* Ernest Gold *

Jerry Goldsmith Jerrald King Goldsmith (February 10, 1929July 21, 2004) was an American composer and conductor known for his work in film and television scoring. He composed scores for five films in the ''Star Trek'' franchise and three in the ''Rambo'' franch ...

Bernard Herrmann Bernard Herrmann (born Maximillian Herman; June 29, 1911December 24, 1975) was an American composer and conductor best known for his work in composing for films. As a conductor, he championed the music of lesser-known composers. He is widely re ...

Joe Hisaishi , known professionally as , is a Japanese composer, musical director, conductor and pianist, known for over 100 film scores and solo albums dating back to 1981. He is also known for his piano scores. Hisaishi's music has been known to explore ...

James Horner James Roy Horner (August 14, 1953 – June 22, 2015) was an American composer. He was known for the integration of choral and electronic elements, and for his frequent use of motifs associated with Celtic music. Horner's first film score was in ...

Akira Ifukube was a Japanese classical and film music composer, best known for his works on the ''Godzilla'' franchise. Biography Early years in Hokkaido Akira Ifukube was born on 31 May 1914 in Kushiro, Japan as the third son of a police officer Toshimi ...

Shin'ichirō Ikebe Shin'ichirō Ikebe ( ja , 池辺晋一郎 ''Ikebe Shin'ichirō''; born September 15, 1943 in Mito, Ibaraki) is a Japanese composer of contemporary classical music. Overviews He has written the scores for many films by Akira Kurosawa and ...

Henry Jackman Henry Pryce Jackman (born 1974) is an English composer. He composed music for films such as '' Kong: Skull Island'', '' X-Men: First Class'', ''Winnie the Pooh'', ''Wreck-It Ralph'', ''Puss in Boots'', '' Monsters vs. Aliens'', '' Captain Phi ...

Steve Jablonsky Steve Jablonsky (born October 9, 1970) is an American composer for film, television and video games, best known for his musical scores in the ''Transformers'' film series. Some of his frequent collaboration partners include film directors Michae ...

Michael Kamen Michael Arnold Kamen (April 15, 1948 – November 18, 2003) was an American composer (especially of film scores), orchestral arranger, orchestral conductor, songwriter, and session musician. Biography Early life Michael Arnold Kamen was born ...

Aram Khachaturian Aram Ilyich Khachaturian (; rus, Арам Ильич Хачатурян, , ɐˈram ɨˈlʲjitɕ xətɕɪtʊˈrʲan, Ru-Aram Ilyich Khachaturian.ogg; hy, Արամ Խաչատրյան, ''Aram Xačʿatryan''; 1 May 1978) was a Soviet and Armenian ...

Wojciech Kilar Wojciech Kilar (; 17 July 1932 – 29 December 2013) was a Polish classical and film music composer. One of his greatest successes came with his score to Francis Ford Coppola's '' Bram Stoker's Dracula'' in 1992, which received the ASCAP Award ...

* Ennio Morricone * David Newman *

Alex North Alex North (born Isadore Soifer, December 4, 1910 – September 8, 1991) was an American composer best known for his many film scores, including ''A Streetcar Named Desire'' (one of the first jazz-based film scores), '' Viva Zapata!'', '' S ...

* John Powell *

Leonard Rosenman Leonard Rosenman (September 7, 1924 – March 4, 2008) was an American film, television and concert composer with credits in over 130 works, including '' East of Eden'', ''Rebel without a Cause'', '' Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home'', ''Beneath the ...

Nino Rota Giovanni Rota Rinaldi (; 3 December 1911 – 10 April 1979), better known as Nino Rota (), was an Italian composer, pianist, conductor and academic who is best known for his film scores, notably for the films of Federico Fellini and Luchino Visco ...

Miklós Rózsa Miklós Rózsa (; April 18, 1907 – July 27, 1995) was a Hungarian-American composer trained in Germany (1925–1931) and active in France (1931–1935), the United Kingdom (1935–1940), and the United States (1940–1995), with extensi ...

Alfred Schnittke Alfred Garrievich Schnittke (russian: Альфре́д Га́рриевич Шни́тке, link=no, Alfred Garriyevich Shnitke; 24 November 1934 – 3 August 1998) was a Russian composer of Jewish-German descent. Among the most performed and re ...

* Howard Shore *

Alan Silvestri Alan Anthony Silvestri (born March 26, 1950) is an American composer and conductor of film and television scores. He has been associated with director Robert Zemeckis since 1984, composing music for all of his feature films including the ''Ba ...

Tōru Takemitsu was a Japanese composer and writer on aesthetics and music theory. Largely self-taught, Takemitsu was admired for the subtle manipulation of instrumental and orchestral timbre. He is known for combining elements of oriental and occidental phil ...

Dimitri Tiomkin Dimitri Zinovievich Tiomkin (, ; May 10, 1894 – November 11, 1979) was a Russian-born American film composer and conductor. Classically trained in St. Petersburg, Russia before the Bolshevik Revolution, he moved to Berlin and then New York City ...

Brian Tyler Brian Theodore Tyler (born May 8, 1972) is an American composer, conductor, arranger, and record producer, best known for his film, television, and video game scores. In his 24-year career, Tyler has scored '' Transformers: Prime'', ''Eagle ...

* Ralph Vaughan Williams *

William Walton Sir William Turner Walton (29 March 19028 March 1983) was an English composer. During a sixty-year career, he wrote music in several classical genres and styles, from film scores to opera. His best-known works include ''Façade'', the cantat ...

Franz Waxman Franz Waxman (né Wachsmann; December 24, 1906February 24, 1967) was a German-born composer and conductor of Jewish descent, known primarily for his work in the film music genre. His film scores include ''Bride of Frankenstein'', ''Rebecca'', ' ...

* John Williams *

Hans Zimmer Hans Florian Zimmer (; born 12 September 1957) is a German film score composer and music producer. He has won two Academy Awards, Oscars and four Grammy Awards, Grammys, and has been nominated for two Primetime Emmy Awards, Emmys and a Tony Awar ...

Proves notability. Contemporary classical music originally written for the concert hall can also be heard on the music track of some films, such as Stanley Kubrick's '' 2001: A Space Odyssey'' (1968) and ''

Eyes Wide Shut ''Eyes Wide Shut'' is a 1999 erotic mystery psychological drama film directed, produced, and co-written by Stanley Kubrick. It is based on the 1926 novella '' Traumnovelle'' (''Dream Story'') by Arthur Schnitzler, transferring the story's set ...

'' (1999), both of which used concert music by

, and also in Kubrick's '' The Shining'' (1980) which used music by both Ligeti and

Krzysztof Penderecki Krzysztof Eugeniusz Penderecki (; 23 November 1933 – 29 March 2020) was a Polish composer and conductor. His best known works include ''Threnody to the Victims of Hiroshima'', Symphony No. 3, his '' St Luke Passion'', '' Polish Requiem'', ' ...

Jean-Luc Godard Jean-Luc Godard ( , ; ; 3 December 193013 September 2022) was a French-Swiss film director, screenwriter, and film critic. He rose to prominence as a pioneer of the French New Wave film movement of the 1960s, alongside such filmmakers as Fran� ...

, in ''

La Chinoise ''La Chinoise, ou plutôt à la Chinoise: un film en train de se faire'' (English: ''The Chinese, or, rather, in the Chinese manner: a film in the making''), commonly referred to simply as ''La Chinoise'', is a 1967 French political film directed b ...

'' (1967),

Nicolas Roeg Nicolas Jack Roeg (; 15 August 1928 – 23 November 2018) was an English film director and cinematographer, best known for directing ''Performance'' (1970), '' Walkabout'' (1971), ''Don't Look Now'' (1973), '' The Man Who Fell to Earth'' (1976 ...

in ''

Walkabout Walkabout is a rite of passage in Australian Aboriginal society, during which males undergo a journey during adolescence, typically ages 10 to 16, and live in the wilderness for a period as long as six months to make the spiritual and traditiona ...

'' (1971), and the

Brothers Quay Stephen and Timothy Quay ( ; born June 17, 1947) are American identical twin brothers and stop-motion animators who are better known as the Brothers Quay or Quay Brothers. They were also the recipients of the 1998 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding ...

in ''In Absentia'' (2000) used music by

Chamber

Some notable works for chamber orchestra: *

Composition for Twelve Instruments ''Composition for Twelve Instruments'' (1948, rev. 1954) is a Serialism, serial music composition written by American composer Milton Babbitt for flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, horn, trumpet, harp, celesta, violin, viola, cello, and double bass. I ...

(1948, rev. 1954) – Milton Babbitt *

Concerto for seven wind instruments, timpani, percussion, and string orchestra Concerto for seven wind instruments, timpani, percussion, and string orchestra (published as ''Concerto pour sept instruments à vent, timbales, batterie et orchestre à cordes'') is a composition by the Swiss composer Frank Martin. Composed in 1 ...

(1949) – Frank Martin * Drei Lieder (1950) –

* ''

Nummer 2 ''Nummer 2'' for thirteen instruments (also called ''Opus 2 for thirteen instruments'') is a composition written in 1951 by the Belgian composer Karel Goeyvaerts. ''Nummer 2'' has been claimed as the first "total serialism, serial" composition. th ...

'' (1951) –

Karel Goeyvaerts Karel August Goeyvaerts (8 June 1923 – 3 February 1993) was a Belgian composer. Life Goeyvaerts was born in Antwerp, where he studied at the Royal Conservatoire of Antwerp, Royal Flemish Music Conservatory; he later studied musical composition, ...

* ''

Oiseaux exotiques ''Oiseaux exotiques'' (''Exotic birds'') is a piece for piano and small orchestra by Olivier Messiaen. It was written between 5 October 1953 and 3 January 1956 and was commissioned by Pierre Boulez. It is dedicated to Yvonne Loriod, the composer ...

'' (1956) –

* ''Requiem'' for strings (1957) –

* ''

Threnody to the Victims of Hiroshima (''Threnody to the Victims of Hiroshima for 52 string instruments'') , other_name = , year = , catalogue = , period = Contemporary, postmodernism , genre = Sonorism, avant-gar ...

'' (1960) –

Double Concerto A double concerto (Italian: ''Doppio concerto''; German: ''Doppelkonzert'') is a concerto featuring two performers—as opposed to the usual single performer, in the solo role. The two performers' instruments may be of the same type, as in Bach's ...

for harpsichord and piano with two chamber orchestras (1961) –

* ''

Stop Stop may refer to: Places * Stop, Kentucky, an unincorporated community in the United States * Stop (Rogatica), a village in Rogatica, Republika Srpska, Bosnia and Herzegovina Facilities * Bus stop * Truck stop, a type of rest stop for truck d ...

'' (1965) – Karlheinz Stockhausen * Fantasia for Strings (1966) –

* ''Ojikawa'' (1968) –

Concerto A concerto (; plural ''concertos'', or ''concerti'' from the Italian plural) is, from the late Baroque era, mostly understood as an instrumental composition, written for one or more soloists accompanied by an orchestra or other ensemble. The typi ...

for clarinet and vibraphone with six instrumental formations (1968) –

Jean Barraqué Jean-Henri-Alphonse Barraqué (17 January 192817 August 1973) was a French composer and writer on music who developed an individual form of serialism which is displayed in a small output. Life Barraqué was born in Puteaux, Hauts-de-Seine. In 1931 ...

* '' Ramifications'' (1968–69) –

* ''

Compases para preguntas ensimismadas ''Compases para preguntas ensimismadas'' is a musical composition for viola, strings, wind sextet and percussion by the German composer Hans Werner Henze. It was written during 1969–70. The title is taken from lines in Spanish by the Ch ...

'' (1970) – Hans Werner Henze * ''

Recital I (for Cathy) ''Recital I (for Cathy)'' is a stage work by the Italian composer Luciano Berio. It was written for Cathy Berberian, with whom Berio was married from 1950 to 1964, and is scored for mezzo-soprano and 17 instruments. It was first performed on 27 A ...

'' (1972) –

* '' Trois airs pour un opéra imaginaire'' (1982) –

* Guitar Concerto No. 2 for guitar and strings (1985) –

Alan Hovhaness Alan Hovhaness (; March 8, 1911 – June 21, 2000) was an American- Armenian composer. He was one of the most prolific 20th-century composers, with his official catalog comprising 67 numbered symphonies (surviving manuscripts indicate over 70) a ...

* ''Invocation'' for Oboe and Guitar (1993) –

Apostolos Paraskevas Apostolos Paraskevas is a Grammy nominated composer and guitarist. He was born in Volos, Greece. Parents of Apostolos were Panayiotis Paraskevas (1925-1990) and Chrysoula Paraskevas (1929-2002). Apostolos Paraskevas is a published recording ar ...

* ''

Kol-Od ''Kol-Od'' (also titled ''Chemins VI'') is a composition for solo trumpet and chamber ensemble by Luciano Berio. The ensemble consists of 3 flutes, oboe, 4 clarinets, 2 saxophones, bassoon, 2 horns, 2 trumpets, trombone, tuba, celeste, accordion a ...

'' (1996) – Luciano Berio * '' Asko Concerto'' (2000) – Elliott Carter * ''

Dialogues Dialogue (sometimes spelled dialog in American English) is a written or spoken conversational exchange between two or more people, and a literary and theatrical form that depicts such an exchange. As a philosophical or didactic device, it is chi ...

'' for piano and chamber orchestra (2003) – Elliott Carter * '' Fünf Sternzeichen'' (2004) – Karlheinz Stockhausen * '' Fünf weitere Sternzeichen'' (2007) – Karlheinz Stockhausen * ''Diário das Narrativas Fantásticas'' (2019) –

Caio Facó Caio Facó (born May 16, 1992) is a Brazilian composer. Biography Facó worked as a composer in residence for Ensemble MPMP (Portugal, 2017) and Orquestra de Câmara de Valdivia (Chile, 2017–19). He also worked with the International Contemp ...

Concert bands (wind ensembles)

In recent years, many composers have composed for concert bands (also called wind ensembles). Notable composers include: * James Barnes *

Leslie Bassett Leslie Raymond Bassett (22 January 1923 – 4 February 2016) was an American composer of classical music. Bassett received the 1966 Pulitzer Prize in Music. Bassett had a lifelong relationship with the University of Michigan School of Music. ...

David Bedford David Vickerman Bedford (4 August 1937 – 1 October 2011) was an English composer and musician. He wrote and played both popular and classical music. He was the brother of the conductor Steuart Bedford, the grandson of the composer, painter ...

Richard Rodney Bennett Sir Richard Rodney Bennett (29 March 193624 December 2012) was an English composer of film, TV and concert music, and also a jazz pianist and occasional vocalist. He was based in New York City from 1979 until his death there in 2012.Zachary Woo ...

* Warren Benson * Steven Bryant * Daniel Bukvich * Mark Camphouse *

Michael Colgrass Michael Charles Colgrass (April 22, 1932 – July 2, 2019) was an American-born Canada-based musician, composer, and educator. Life and career Colgrass was born in Brookfield, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago. His musical career began in Chicag ...

* John Corigliano * Michael Daugherty *

David Del Tredici David Walter Del Tredici (born March 16, 1937) is an American composer. He has won a Pulitzer Prize for Music and is a former Guggenheim and Woodrow Wilson fellow. Del Tredici is considered a pioneer of the Neo-Romantic movement. He has also be ...

Thomas C. Duffy Thomas C. Duffy, DMA (born June 17, 1955) is Professor (adjunct) of Music and the Director of Bands at Yale University. Biography Duffy received his Bachelor of Science in Music Education (magna cum laude) and Master of Music in Composition fr ...

Eric Ewazen Eric Ewazen (; born March 1, 1954, Cleveland, Ohio) is an American composer and teacher. Biography Ewazen studied composition under Samuel Adler, Milton Babbitt, Gunther Schuller, Joseph Schwantner, Warren Benson, and Eugene Kurtz at the Ea ...

* Aldo Rafael Forte *

Michael Gandolfi Michael James Gandolfi (born July 5, 1956) is an American composer of contemporary classical music. He chairs the composition department at the New England Conservatory of Music (NEC). Gandolfi was born in Melrose, Massachusetts. He taught h ...

David Gillingham David R. Gillingham (born October 20, 1947) is an American contemporary composer, who is known for his works for concert band and percussion ensemble. Biography He attended the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh for his undergraduate degree in ...

* Julie Giroux * Peter Graham *

Donald Grantham Donald Grantham (born November 9, 1947) is an American composer and music educator. Grantham was born in Duncan, Oklahoma. After receiving a Bachelor of Music from the University of Oklahoma, he went on to receive his MM and DMA from the Univers ...

Edward Gregson Edward Gregson (born 23 July 1945) is an English composer of instrumental and choral music, particularly for brass and wind bands and ensembles, as well as music for the theatre, film, and television. He was also principal of the Royal Northern ...

John Harbison John Harris Harbison (born December 20, 1938) is an American composer, known for his symphonies, operas, and large choral works. Life John Harris Harbison was born on December 20, 1938, in Orange, New Jersey, to the historian Elmore Harris Harb ...

Samuel Hazo Samuel Robert Hazo (born 1966) is an American composer, primarily of music for concert band. Biography Hazo is the son of the poet and playwright Samuel John Hazo and his wife, Mary Anne. After elementary and secondary schooling in the Upp ...

Kenneth Hesketh Kenneth Hesketh (born 20 July 1968) is a British composer of contemporary classical music in numerous genres including dance, orchestral, chamber, vocal and solo. He has also composed music for wind and brass bands as well as seasonal music for ...

Karel Husa Karel Husa (August 7, 1921 – December 14, 2016) was a Czech-born classical composer and conductor, winner of the 1969 Pulitzer Prize for Music and 1993 University of Louisville Grawemeyer Award for Music Composition. In 1954, he emigrated to t ...

Yasuhide Ito is a contemporary Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry o ...

Scott Lindroth Scott Allen Lindroth (born 1958) is an American composer and teacher based near Durham, North Carolina. Lindroth joined the faculty of Duke University in 1990, where he is the Vice-Provost for the Arts and the Kevin D. Gorter Associate Professo ...

Scott McAllister Scott McAllister (born 1969) is an American composer and clarinetist. Born in Vero Beach, Florida, McAllister received a DMA from Rice University. He is particularly noted for his pieces featuring clarinet, including ''Black Dog'' (based on hard r ...

W. Francis McBeth William Francis McBeth (March 9, 1933 – January 6, 2012) was an American composer, whose wind band works are highly respected. His primary musical influences included Clifton Williams, Bernard Rogers, and Howard Hanson. The popularity of his ...

* Cindy McTee *

David Maslanka David Maslanka (August 30, 1943 – August 7, 2017) was an American composer of Polish descent who wrote for a variety of genres, including works for choir, wind ensemble, chamber music, and symphony orchestra. Best known for his wind ensemble c ...

Nicholas Maw John Nicholas Maw (5 November 1935 – 19 May 2009) was a British composer. Among his works are the operas '' The Rising of the Moon'' (1970) and '' Sophie's Choice'' (2002). Biography Born in Grantham, Lincolnshire, Maw was the son of Clarence ...

* John Mackey *

Johan de Meij Johannes Abraham "Johan" de Meij (; born November 23, 1953 in Voorburg) is a Dutch conductor, trombonist, and composer, best known for his '' Symphony No. 1'' for wind ensemble, nicknamed ''The Lord of the Rings'' symphony. Biography Johan de ...

* Lior Navok * Ron Nelson *

Carter Pann Carter Pann (born February 21, 1972 in La Grange, Illinois) is an American composer. He studied composition and piano at the Eastman School of Music and the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, where he earned a Doctor of Musical Arts degree. His ...

Vincent Persichetti Vincent Ludwig Persichetti (June 6, 1915 – August 14, 1987) was an American composer, teacher, and pianist. An important musical educator and writer, he was known for his integration of various new ideas in musical composition into his own wo ...

* *

Alfred Reed Alfred Reed (January 25, 1921 – September 17, 2005) was an American neoclassical composer, with more than two hundred published works for concert band, orchestra, chorus, and chamber ensemble to his name. He also traveled extensively as a ...

Steven Reineke Steven Reineke (born September 14, 1970) is a conductor, composer, and arranger from Cincinnati, Ohio. He is the Music Director of The New York Pops. He currently resides in New York City. Biography Reineke was born in 1970 in Tipp City, Ohio ...

* *

Gunther Schuller Gunther Alexander Schuller (November 22, 1925June 21, 2015) was an American composer, conductor, horn player, author, historian, educator, publisher, and jazz musician. Biography and works Early years Schuller was born in Queens, New York City, ...

Joseph Schwantner Joseph Clyde Schwantner (born March 22, 1943, Chicago, Illinois) is a Pulitzer Prize-winning American composer, educator and a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters since 2002. He was awarded the 1970 Charles Ives Prize. Schwantne ...

* Robert W. Smith *

Philip Sparke Philip Allen Sparke (born 29 December 1951) is an English composer and musician born in London, noted for his concert band and Brass band (British style), brass band music. His early major works include ''The Land of the Long White Cloud – " ...

Jack Stamp Jack Stamp (born March 5, 1954 in College Park, Maryland) is a North American wind ensemble conductor and composer. He has approximately sixty compositions available from Neil A. Kjos Music Company, including his most well-known piece, Gavorkn ...

Steven Stucky Steven Edward Stucky (November 7, 1949 − February 14, 2016) was a Pulitzer Prize-winning American composer. Life and career Stucky was born in Hutchinson, Kansas. At age 9, he moved with his family to Abilene, Texas, where, as a teenager, he ...

Frank Ticheli Frank Ticheli (born January 21, 1958) is an American composer of orchestral, choral, chamber, and concert band works. He lives in Los Angeles, California, where he is a Professor of Composition at the University of Southern California. He wa ...

Michael Tippett Sir Michael Kemp Tippett (2 January 1905 – 8 January 1998) was an English composer who rose to prominence during and immediately after the Second World War. In his lifetime he was sometimes ranked with his contemporary Benjamin Britten ...

Jan Van der Roost Jan Van der Roost (born Duffel, 1956) is a Belgian composer. Van der Roost was educated at the Lemmensinstituut in Leuven (1974-1979), and followed further studies at the Royal Conservatory in Ghent and the Royal Flemish Conservatory in Antwerp. ...

Dan Welcher Dan Welcher (born March 2, 1948)Joshua Kosman, "Welcher, Dan (Edward)", ''The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians'', second edition, edited by Stanley Sadie and John Tyrrell (London: Macmillan Publishers, 2001)Nicolas Slonimsky, Laura Kuh ...

Eric Whitacre Eric Edward Whitacre (born January2, 1970) is an American composer, conductor, and speaker best known for his choral music. In March2016, he was appointed as Los Angeles Master Chorale's first artist-in-residence at the Walt Disney Concert Hall ...

Dana Wilson Dana Richard Wilson (born 1946) is an American composer, jazz pianist, and teacher. He grew up in Wilton, CT, and holds a B.A. from Bowdoin College, an M.A. from the University of Connecticut, and a doctorate from the Eastman School of Music. ...

Guy Woolfenden Guy Anthony Woolfenden (12 July 1937 – 15 April 2016) was an English composer and conductor. Biography Woolfenden was born in Ipswich and educated at Westminster Abbey Choir School, London, and Whitgift School, Croydon. He studied music a ...

* Charles Rochester Young

Festivals

The following is an incomplete list of contemporary-music festivals: * Ars Musica, Brussels, Belgium * Bang on a Can Marathon *

Big Ears Festival The Big Ears Festival is an annual music festival in Knoxville, Tennessee, created and produced by AC Entertainment. History The festival was founded in 2009 by Ashley Capps, founder of AC Entertainment. The festival was originally organized b ...

Darmstädter Ferienkurse Darmstädter Ferienkurse ("Darmstadt Summer Course") is a regular summer event of contemporary classical music in Darmstadt, Hesse, Germany. It was founded in 1946, under the name "Ferienkurse für Internationale Neue Musik Darmstadt" (Vacation Co ...

Donaueschingen Festival The Donaueschingen Festival (german: Donaueschinger Musiktage, links=no) is a festival for new music that takes place every October in the small town of Donaueschingen in south-western Germany. Founded in 1921, it is considered the oldest festiva ...

* in Caracas, Venezuela *

Gaudeamus Foundation The Gaudeamus Foundation and Contemporary Music Center organizes and promotes contemporary musical activities and concerts in the Netherlands and abroad. It focuses on supporting the career development of young composers and musicians, particula ...

Music Week in Amsterdam *

Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival The Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival (also known by the acronym HCMF, stylised since 2006 as the lowercase hcmf//) is a new music festival held annually in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England. Since its foundation in 1978, it has feature ...

Lucerne Festival Lucerne Festival is one of the leading international festivals in the world of classical music and presents a series of classical music festivals based in Lucerne, Switzerland. Founded in 1938 by Ernest Ansermet and Walter Schulthess, it curren ...

in Switzerland *

MATA Festival The MATA Festival is a New York-based annual contemporary classical music festival devoted to championing the works of young composers. It was founded in 1996 by Philip Glass, Lisa Bielawa and Eleonor Sandresky and is currently under the leaders ...

in New York *

Music Biennale Zagreb Music Biennale Zagreb ( hr, Muzički biennale Zagreb, MBZ) is an international festival of contemporary music in Zagreb, Croatia, organized by the Croatian Composers' Society. The Biennale, founded by Milko Kelemen and held every spring of the od ...

Musica (French music festival) Musica is a festival of contemporary classical music held annually in Strasbourg since 1983. The specialization in modern music is encouraged by government patronage.Julien Besancon ''Festival de musique. Analyse sociologique de la programmation ...

New Music Gathering New Music Gathering (NMG) is a yearly American conference/festival hybrid devoted to the performance, development, and promotion of new and contemporary classical music. The festival, established in 2015 and conducted in a different city each ye ...

November Music November Music is an annual international festival of contemporary music in the Netherlands on various locations in 's-Hertogenbosch. Its motto is 'Today's Music by Today's Makers'. The ten-day festival is held in the first half of November. It ...

in 's Hertogenbosch (the Netherlands) * Other Minds in San Francisco *

Peninsula Arts Contemporary Music Festival The University of Plymouth Contemporary Music Festival is held in Plymouth, Devon, England. It has a program of leading-edge orchestral, operatic, jazz, and electroacoustic music, electroacoustic performances, along with film, and music theatre. ...

Warsaw Autumn Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officiall ...

in Poland *

George Enescu Festival The George Enescu Festival (also known as George Enescu International Festival and Competition), held in honor of the celebrated Romanian composer George Enescu, is the biggest classical music festival and classical international competition hel ...

in Romania *

Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music The Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music is an annual Festival dedicated to contemporary symphonic music by living composers. The music director since 2017 has been Cristian Măcelaru. According to Jesse Rosen, CEO of the League of American Orc ...

in Santa Cruz, California

Notes

Sources

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * (Subscription access)

External links

Sussurro
– Contemporary Brazilian music
Gateway to contemporary music resources in France

highSCORE Festival

"Guide to contemporary music"
Bachtrack {{DEFAULTSORT:Contemporary Classical Music

History

Background

1945–75

Movements

Neoromanticism

High modernism

Electronic music

= Computer music

Music theatre

Spectral music

Polystylism (eclecticism)

Post-modernism

Minimalism and post-minimalism

Historicism

Art rock influence

New Simplicity

New Complexity

Developments by medium

Opera

Cinema and television

Chamber

Concert bands (wind ensembles)

Festivals

See also

Notes

Sources

Further reading

External links