Lists of composers by philosophical stance: Postmodernist composers

Canada

* John Oswald (born 1953)

Estonia

Arvo Pärt Arvo Pärt (; born 11 September 1935) is an Estonian composer of contemporary classical music. Since the late 1970s, Pärt has worked in a minimalist style that employs tintinnabuli, a compositional technique he invented. Pärt's music is in pa ...

(born 1935)

Finland

* Kaija Saariaho (born 1952)

France

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 ...

(1925–2016) *

René Leibowitz René Leibowitz (; 17 February 1913 – 29 August 1972) was a Polish, later naturalised French, composer, conductor, music theorist and teacher. He was historically significant in promoting the music of the Second Viennese School in Paris after ...

(1913–1972)Christopher Butler, ''After the Wake: An Essay on the Contemporary Avant-Garde'' (Oxford: Clarendon Press; New York: Oxford University Press, 1980): p. 7. *

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 ...

(1908–1992)

Germany

* Hans-Jürgen von Bose (born 1953) Beate Kutschke, "The Celebration of Beethoven’s Bicentennial in 1970: The Antiauthoritarian Movement and Its Impact on Radical Avant-garde and Postmodern Music in West Germany", ''The Musical Quarterly'' 93, nos. 3–4 (Fall–Winter 2010): 560–615, citation on p. 582. *

Hans-Christian von Dadelsen Hans-Christian von Dadelsen (born 4 December 1948) is a German composer and music writer. He is the son of the musicologist Georg von Dadelsen and the journalist Dorothee von Dadelsen. Life Born in Berlin, von Dadelsen spent his childhood in ...

(born 1948) *

Heiner Goebbels Heiner Goebbels (born 17 August 1952) is a German composer, conductor and professor at Justus-Liebig-University in Gießen and artistic director of the International Festival of the Arts Ruhrtriennale 2012–14. His composition ''Stifters Dinge ...

(born 1952) *

Wilhelm Killmayer Wilhelm Killmayer (21 August 1927 – 20 August 2017) was a German composer of classical music, a conductor and an academic teacher of composition at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater München from 1973 to 1992. He composed symphonies and son ...

(1927–2017) *

Detlev Müller-Siemens Detlev Müller-Siemens (born 30 July 1957) is a German composer and conductor. Life and career Born in Hamburg, Müller-Siemens began with piano lessons at age six and began composing. He was invited to a composition class at the Musikhochschul ...

(born 1957) * Wolfgang Rihm (born 1952)David Beard and Kenneth Gloag, ''Musicology: The Key Concepts'' (New York: Routledge, 2005): p. 142. .

Greece

* Iannis Xenakis (1922–2001)

Hungary

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" ...

(1923–2006)

Italy

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 ...

(1925–2003) * Aldo Clementi (1925–2011) * Luigi Nono (1924–1990)

Norway

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 ...

(b. 1979)

Poland

Henryk Górecki Henryk Mikołaj Górecki ( , ; 6 December 1933 – 12 November 2010) was a Polish composer of contemporary classical music. According to critic Alex Ross, no recent classical composer has had as much commercial success as Górecki. He became a l ...

(1933–2010) *

Zygmunt Krauze Zygmunt Krauze (born September 19, 1938) is a Polish composer of contemporary classical music, educator, and pianist. Biography Zygmunt Krauze is an important artist of his generation: a respected composer, valued pianist, educator, organiser of ...

(born 1938)

United Kingdom

* Thomas Adès (born 1971) * Harrison Birtwistle (born 1934)David Beard and Kenneth Gloag, ''Musicology: The Key Concepts'' (New York: Routledge, 2005): p. 143. . * Cornelius Cardew (1936–1981) Georgina Born, ''Rationalizing Culture: IRCAM, Boulez, and the Institutionalization of the Musical Avant-Garde'' (Berkeley, Los Angeles, and London: University of California Press, 1995): p. 56). *

Brian Eno Brian Peter George St John le Baptiste de la Salle Eno (; born Brian Peter George Eno, 15 May 1948) is a British musician, composer, record producer and visual artist best known for his contributions to ambient music and work in rock, pop an ...

(born 1948) *

Brian Ferneyhough Brian John Peter Ferneyhough (; born 16 January 1943) is an English composer. Ferneyhough is typically considered the central figure of the New Complexity movement. Ferneyhough has taught composition at the Hochschule für Musik Freiburg and ...

(born 1943) * John Tavener (1944–2013)

United States

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 ...

(born 1947) * Robert Ashley (1930–2014) *

Samuel Barber Samuel Osmond Barber II (March 9, 1910 – January 23, 1981) was an American composer, pianist, conductor, baritone, and music educator, and one of the most celebrated composers of the 20th century. The music critic Donal Henahan said, "Proba ...

(1910–1981) * William Bolcom (born 1938) * Henry Brant (1913–2008) * Earle Brown (1926–2002) *

John Cage John Milton Cage Jr. (September 5, 1912 – August 12, 1992) was an American composer and music theorist. A pioneer of indeterminacy in music, electroacoustic music, and non-standard use of musical instruments, Cage was one of the leading fi ...

(1912–1992) * Elliott Carter (1908–2012) *

John Corigliano John Paul Corigliano Jr. (born February 16, 1938) is an American composer of contemporary classical music. His scores, now numbering over one hundred, have won him the Pulitzer Prize, five Grammy Awards, Grawemeyer Award for Music Composition, an ...

(born 1938)Jonathan Kramer, "The Nature and Origins of Musical Postmodernism", in ''Postmodern Music/Postmodern Thought'', edited by Judy Lochhead and Joseph Aunder, 13–26 (New York: Routledge, 2002): p. 14. . *

Morton Feldman Morton Feldman (January 12, 1926 – September 3, 1987) was an American composer. A major figure in 20th-century classical music, Feldman was a pioneer of indeterminate music, a development associated with the experimental New York School ...

(1926–1987) *

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 ...

(born 1937)David Beard and Kenneth Gloag, ''Musicology: The Key Concepts'' (New York: Routledge, 2005): p. 144. .

Sources

{{Modernism (music) Postmodernist Postmodern composers