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 Philosoph ...

of post-tonal music after the death of Anton Webern, and included serial music, electronic music,

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 In visual arts, Minimal music, 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 minimal ...

. Newer forms of music include spectral music, 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 pitch language, which sometimes yielded atonal 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 and Social Realism). 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 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, mixed media, fluxus). New works of contemporary classical music continue to be created. Each year, the Boston Conservatory at Berklee 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, and Karlheinz Stockhausen. 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 Anton Webern (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''. 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 maintained a tonal style of composition despite the prominent serialist movement. In America, composers like

Milton Babbitt Milton Byron Babbitt (May 10, 1916 – January 29, 2011) was an American composer, music theorist, mathematician, and teacher. He is particularly noted for his Serialism, serial and electronic music. Biography Babbitt was born in Philadelphia t ...

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 ...

, Elliott Carter,

Henry Cowell Henry Dixon Cowell (; March 11, 1897 – December 10, 1965) was an American composer, writer, pianist, publisher and teacher. Marchioni, Tonimarie (2012)"Henry Cowell: A Life Stranger Than Fiction" ''The Juilliard Journal''. Retrieved 19 June 202 ...

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, and Roger Sessions, 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,

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 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 ...

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, Luigi Nono, and Karlheinz Stockhausen in Europe, and by

, Donald Martino,

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 Charles Peter Wuorinen (; June 9, 1938 – March 11, 2020) was an American composer of contemporary classical music based in New York City. He performed his works and other 20th-century music as pianist and conductor. He composed more than ...

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 twelve-tone technique, 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 Center ...

, Toru Takemitsu, Jacob Druckman, George Perle,

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, Jonathan Harvey,

Erkki Salmenhaara Erkki Olavi Salmenhaara (March 12, 1941 – March 19, 2002) was a Finnish composer and musicologist. Personal life Salmenhaara was born in Helsinki, Finland, and married Anja Kosonen in 1961. They had two sons, but divorced in 1978. Salmenhaara ...

, and Henrik Otto Donner, 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 begin ...

, George Benjamin,

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 ...

, Wolfgang Rihm, Richard Wernick, Richard Wilson, and James MacMillan.

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 analo ...

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, 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 The ''lauda'' (Italian pl. ''laude'') or ''lauda spirituale'' was the most important form of vernacular sacred song in Italy in the late medieval era and Renaissance. ''Laude'' remained popular into the nineteenth century. The lauda was often as ...

of Gavin Bryars. The historicist movement is closely related to the emergence of musicology and the early music revival. 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, 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). The musical historicism movement has also been stimulated by the formation of such international organizations as the Delian Society 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 New Complexity is a label principally applied to composers seeking a "complex, multi-layered interplay of evolutionary processes occurring simultaneously within every dimension of the musical material". Origins Though often atonal, highly abstract ...

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, the Belgian musicologist Harry Halbreich, and the British/Australian musicologist Richard Toop, who gave currency to the concept of a movement with his article "Four Facets of the New Complexity". Though often atonal, highly abstract, and dissonant 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 techniques, microtonality, odd tunings, highly disjunct melodic contour, innovative timbres, 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,

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 Michael Peter Finnissy (born 17 March 1946) is an English composer, pianist, and pedagogue. An immensely prolific composer, his music is "notable for its dramatic urgency and expressive immediacy". Although he rejects the label, he is often r ...

, James Erber, 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 Ferneyhou ...

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 * John Adams * Thomas Adès * Miguel del Águila *

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 crea ...

* Robert Ashley * Lera Auerbach * Gerald Barry * George Benjamin * Tim Benjamin * Luciano Berio *

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 Oscar Bianchi (born 1975 in Milan) is a Gaudeamus Laureate composer of Italian and Swiss citizenships. He is a recipient of several international prizes and honors. He is noted for his large scale works, in particular his cantata ''Matra'' for ...

* Harrison Birtwistle *

Antonio Braga Antonio Braga (22 January 1929 – 26 May 2009 in Naples) was an Italian classical composer. Born in Naples, he wrote ballets, concerto, ouvertures, symphonies and three operas. Works Ballets *Les Abeilles a Naples (1955) *C’è un albero a ...

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 ...

* Roberto Carnevale * Elliott Carter * Daniel Catán *

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 *

Michael Daugherty Michael Kevin Daugherty (born April 28, 1954) is an American composer, pianist, and teacher. He is influenced by popular culture, Romanticism, and Postmodernism. Daugherty's notable works include his Superman comic book-inspired ''Metropolis Sym ...

* Peter Maxwell Davies *

Julius Eastman Julius Eastman (October 27, 1940 – May 28, 1990) was an American composer, pianist, vocalist, and performance artist whose work is associated with musical minimalism. He was among the first composers to combine minimalist processes with elements ...

* John Eaton * Oscar Edelstein *

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 ...

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 ''Juan'' is a given name, the Spanish and Manx versions of ''John''. It is very common in Spain and in other Spanish-speaking communities around the world and in the Philippines, and also (pronounced differently) in the Isle of Man. In Spanish, t ...

* Luca Francesconi *

* Elliot Goldenthal * Ricky Ian Gordon * Daron Hagen * Hans Werner Henze *

Bern Herbolsheimer Bern Herbolsheimer (September 2, 1948 – January 13, 2016) was an American composer. Biography Bern Herbolsheimer received recognition throughout the United States and Europe for over 500 works ranging from ballet to symphonic, operatic, chambe ...

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 with ...

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 *

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 André Laporte (born 12 July 1931) is a Belgian composer. Biography Laporte was born in Oplinter, near Tienen in Flemish Brabant. He studied music with Edgard de Laet, Flor Peeters, and Marinus De Jong at the Lemmens Institute in Mechelen, and mu ...

* György Ligeti * Liza Lim *

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 *

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, ...

* Luigi Nono *

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 Michael Obst may refer to: * Michael Obst (rower) * Michael Obst (composer) Michael Obst (born 30 November 1955) is a German composer and pianist. Life Obst was born in Frankfurt am Main. He studied music education from 1973 to 1978 in Main ...

Jocy de Oliveira Jocy de Oliveira (born 11 April 1936) is a Brazilian pianist, multimedia artist and composer. Biography Jocy de Oliveira was born in Curitiba and grew up in São Paulo, Brazil. She studied in São Paulo with Joseph Kliass, in Paris with Marguerit ...

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 to ...

* Kevin Puts * Einojuhani Rautavaara * Kaija Saariaho * Aulis Sallinen *

Carol Sams Carol Sams (born 1945) is an American composer based in the Seattle area. She earned a Master of Arts in Music from Mills College and a Doctor of Musical Arts from the University of Washington. One of her teachers was Darius Milhaud. In 1976 her op ...

* David Sawer *

Howard Shore Howard Leslie Shore (born October 18, 1946) is a Canadian composer and conductor noted for his film scores. He has composed the scores for over 80 films, most notably the scores for ''The Lord of the Rings'' and ''The Hobbit'' film trilogies. ...

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 ...

* Karlheinz Stockhausen *

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 *

Stefano Vagnini Stefano Vagnini (born 1963) is an Italian musician, composer, researcher, poet and Modular Art theorist. Biography Stefano Vagnini was born in Fano, Italy. Vagnini studied organ, composition and electronic music at the “ G. Rossini” conser ...

* Claude Vivier * Judith Weir

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 * Bruce Broughton * Aaron Copland * John Debney * Alexandre Desplat * Ramin Djawadi *

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 *

Benjamin Frankel Benjamin Frankel (31 January 190612 February 1973) was a British composer. His best known pieces include a cycle of five string quartets, eight symphonies, and concertos for violin and viola. He was also notable for writing over 100 film scores ...

* Michael Giacchino * Ernest Gold * Elliot Goldenthal * Jerry Goldsmith * Bernard Herrmann * Joe Hisaishi * James Horner *

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 * Michael Kamen * Aram Khachaturian *

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 Ennio Morricone (; 10 November 19286 July 2020) was an Italian composer, orchestrator, conductor, and trumpeter who wrote music in a wide range of styles. With more than 400 scores for cinema and television, as well as more than 100 classica ...

* David Newman * Alex North * John Powell * Leonard Rosenman * Nino Rota * Miklós Rózsa * Alfred Schnittke *

* Alan Silvestri *

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 *

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 E ...

Ralph Vaughan Williams Ralph Vaughan Williams, (; 12 October 1872– 26 August 1958) was an English composer. His works include operas, ballets, chamber music, secular and religious vocal pieces and orchestral compositions including nine symphonies, written over ...

* William Walton * Franz Waxman *

John Williams John Towner Williams (born February 8, 1932)Nylund, Rob (15 November 2022)Classic Connection review ''WBOI'' ("For the second time this year, the Fort Wayne Philharmonic honored American composer, conductor, and arranger John Williams, who wa ...

* Hans Zimmer 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'' (1999), both of which used concert music by György Ligeti, and also in Kubrick's '' The Shining'' (1980) which used music by both Ligeti and Krzysztof Penderecki.

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'' (1967), Nicolas Roeg in '' Walkabout'' (1971), and the Brothers Quay in ''In Absentia'' (2000) used music by Karlheinz Stockhausen.

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) –

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) – Karlheinz Stockhausen * ''

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 * ''

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-gard ...

'' (1960) – Krzysztof Penderecki *

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) – Elliott Carter * ''

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) – Hans Werner Henze * ''Ojikawa'' (1968) – Claude Vivier *

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 * '' Ramifications'' (1968–69) – György Ligeti * '' Compases para preguntas ensimismadas'' (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) – Luciano Berio * ''

Trois airs pour un opéra imaginaire 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 ...

'' (1982) – Claude Vivier * 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) and ...

* ''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'' (1996) – Luciano Berio * ''

Asko Concerto The ''Asko Concerto'' is a concerto for chamber orchestra by the American composer Elliott Carter. The work was commissioned by the Dutch chamber group Asko/Schönberg, Asko Ensemble, for which the piece is titled. It was composed in January 2000 ...

'' (2000) – Elliott Carter * '' Dialogues'' 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 band A concert band, also called a wind band, wind ensemble, wind symphony, wind orchestra, symphonic band, the symphonic winds, or symphonic wind ensemble, is a performing ensemble consisting of members of the woodwind, brass, and percussion famil ...

s (also called wind ensembles). Notable composers include: * James Barnes * Leslie Bassett * David Bedford * Richard Rodney Bennett *

Warren Benson Warren Benson (January 26, 1924 – October 6, 2005) was an American composer. His compositions consist mostly of music for wind instruments and percussion. His most notable piece is titled ''The Leaves Are Falling''. Biography Benson was born in ...

* Steven Bryant *

Daniel Bukvich Daniel Bukvich (born 1954) is an American composer and percussionist. He has been a professor of percussion and music theory at the Lionel Hampton School of Music at the University of Idaho since 1978. He is heavily involved in the Lionel Hampton J ...

Mark Camphouse Mark Camphouse (born 1954 in Oak Park, Illinois) is an Americans, American composer and conductor who has written primarily for concert band, symphonic band, but whose output also includes works for orchestra, choir and chamber brass. A product o ...

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 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 ...

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 bee ...

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 *

Aldo Rafael Forte Aldo Rafael Forte (b. Havana, Cuba, 1953) is an American composer of Cuban descent . References

1953 births American male composers 21st-century American composers Living people 21st-century American male musicians {{US-composer-20thC ...

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 *

Julie Giroux Julie Ann Giroux (born December 12, 1961 in Fairhaven, Massachusetts) is an American pianist and composer of orchestral, choral, chamber, and numerous concert band works. Biography Giroux graduated from Ouachita Parish High School, in Monroe, ...

* 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 *

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 *

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 ...

* James MacMillan *

Cindy McTee Cindy McTee (born February 20, 1953) is an American composer and educator. Early life and education McTee was born in Tacoma, Washington. She studied at Pacific Lutheran University, the Academy of Music in Kraków, Yale University, and the Univers ...

* David Maslanka * Nicholas Maw * 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 Lior Navok (born September 6, 1971) (Hebrew: ליאור נבוק) is an Israeli classical composer, conductor and pianist. He was born in Tel Aviv. His music has been performed internationally by orchestras and ensembles including the Oper Frankf ...

* Ron Nelson * Carter Pann * Vincent Persichetti * * Alfred Reed * Steven Reineke * * Gunther Schuller * Joseph Schwantner * Robert W. Smith * Philip Sparke *

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, Gavorkna ...

* Karlheinz Stockhausen *

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 was ...

* Michael Tippett * Jan Van der Roost * Dan Welcher *

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 *

Charles Rochester Young Charles Rochester Young (1965) is an American composer, music educator, conductor and saxophonist. Life Young graduated from Baylor University in Waco (Texas), where in 1988 he earned his Bachelor of Music. He then studied at the University of ...

Festivals

The following is an incomplete list of contemporary-music festivals: *

Ars Musica {{Notability, date=June 2020 Founded in 1989, Ars Musica is an annual contemporary music international festival that takes place in Brussels during several weeks, usually in March. Nowadays, Ars musica is one of the biggest world festival for con ...

, 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 Cou ...

* Donaueschingen Festival * 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 featured ...

* Lucerne Festival in Switzerland * MATA Festival 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 odd ...

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 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 in Poland * George Enescu Festival in Romania * Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music 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 ''Bachtrack'' is a London-based international online music magazine which publishes listings of classical music, opera, ballet and dance, as well as reviews of these genres, interviews and general feature articles. History Bachtrack Ltd was r ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Contemporary Classical Music