Contemporary Classical – Detailed
Contemporary Classical Composers (1975 – present)
If you are a student of Music History or Composition, here is a more detailed list of composers you should know from this period.
| Name | Birth | Death | Nationality | Representative Pieces |
| Adams, John ML410 .A233 | 1947 | American | Nixon in China (opera) Short Ride in a Fast Machine (orchestra) Phyrgian Gates (piano solo) | |
| Argento, Dominick | 1927 | American | From the Diary of Virginia Woolf (voice & piano) Evensong (soprano, choir, & orchestra) Postcard from Morocco (opera) | |
| Berio, Luciano | 1925 | 2003 | Italian | Sinfonia (orchestra & 8 singers) Visage (tape) Sequenza VIII (violin) |
| Birtwistle, Harrison | 1934 | British | The Mask of Orpheus (opera) Gawain’s Journey (orchestra) | |
| Bolcom, William | 1938 | American | Songs of Innocence and Experience (choirs & orchestra) | |
| Chen, Yi | 1953 | Chinese | Suite for Cello and Chamber Winds (chamber ensemble) | |
| Colgrass, Michael | 1932 | American / Canadian | Winds of Nagual (wind ensemble) Urban Requiem (4 saxophones & wind ensemble) | |
| Corigliano, John | 1938 | American | Ghosts of Versailles (opera) The Red Violin (film score) Symphony No. 2 | |
| Crumb, George | 1929 | American | Makrokosmos (amplified piano) Ancient Voices of Children (soprano & chamber) A Haunted Landscape (orchestra) | |
| Danielpour, Richard | 1956 | American | First Light (chamber ensemble) An American Requiem (opera) | |
| Daugherty, Michael | 1954 | American | Metropolis Symphony (orchestra) Deus ex Machina (piano & orchestra) | |
| Del Tredici, David | 1937 | American | Child Alice (soprano & orchestra) Ballad in Lavender (piano) | |
| Dun, Tan | 1957 | Chinese | Water Concerto (chorus, orchestra, & water percussion) Out of Peking Opera (violin & orchestra) | |
| Glass, Philip ML410 .G398 | 1937 | American | Einstein on the Beach (opera) Satyagraha (opera) Glassworks (chamber ensemble) Photographer (theatre piece) Koyaanisqatsi (film score) | |
| Górecki, Henryk | 1933 | 2010 | Polish | Symphony No. 3 “Symphony of Sorrowful Songs” Kleines Requiem für eine Polka (piano & chamber ensemble) |
| Higdon, Jennifer | 1962 | American | Violin Concerto (violin & orchestra) Piano Trio (violin, cello, & piano) | |
| Iannaccone, Anthony | 1943 | American | Apparitions (Band) Two-Piano Inventions | |
| Kernis, Aaron Jay ML410 .K47 | 1960 | American | String Quartet No. 2 “Musica Intrumentalis” Symphony in Waves (orchestra) | |
| Larsen, Libby | 1950 | American | Dancing Solo (clarinet) Chanting to Paradise (soprano & piano) A Lover’s Journey (choral) | |
| Ligeti, Gyorgy ML410 .L645 | 1923 | 2006 | Hungarian-Austrian | Piano Etudes (piano solo) Lux Aeterna (choral) Atmospheres (orchestra) |
| Lucier, Alvin | 1931 | American | Fragments (string quartet) I Am Sitting in a Room (tape) Music on a Long Thin Wire (electronic) | |
| Machover, Tod | 1953 | American | Towards the Center (6 instruments and live computer electronics) Death and the Powers (opera) Hyperstring Trilogy (hyperviolin, hyperviola, hypercello, & chamber orchestra) | |
| MacMillan, James | 1959 | Scottish | Veni, Veni Emmanuel (percussion & orchestra) 7 Last Words from the Cross (chorus & chamber orchestra) | |
| Maxwell Davies, Peter ML410 .D254 | 1934 | English | Symphony No. 10 (orchestra) An Orkney Wedding with Sunrise (orchestra & bagpipes) | |
| Monk, Meredith ML410 .M72 | 1942 | American | Songs of Ascension (vocalist & string quartet) Atlas (opera) | |
| Oliveros, Pauline | 1932 | 2016 | American | Sound Patterns (choir) The Ready Made Boomerang (chamber ensemble) |
| Pärt, Arvo ML410 .P1755 | 1935 | Estonian | Fratres (chamber ensemble) Magnificat (a cappella choir) Für Alina (piano) | |
| Penderecki, Krzysztof | 1933 | Polish | Threnody for the Victims of Hiroshima (string orchestra) Violin Concerto No. 1 (violin & orchestra) De Natura Sonoris No. 1 & 2 (orchestra) | |
| Reich, Steve | 1936 | American | Come Out (tape piece) Music for 18 Musicians (mixed chamber ensemble) Pendulum Music (4 performers) Clapping Music (2 performers) | |
| Riley, Terry ML410 .R499 | 1935 | American | In C (any number of performers) A Rainbow in Curved Air (keyboards & percussion) | |
| Rorem, Ned ML410 .R693 | 1923 | American | Symphony No. 3 (orchestra) Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening (voice & piano) | |
| Saariaho, Kaija ML410 .S114 | 1952 | Finnish | Jardin Secret No. 1 (electronic music) Laterna Magica (orchestra) | |
| Schelle, Michael | 1950 | American | The End of the World (symphonic band) Wright Flight (piano and orchestra) | |
| Schickele, Peter | 1935 | American | PDQ Bach compositions Symphony No. 1 “Songlines” String Quartet No. 5 A Year in the Catskills (woodwind quintet) | |
| Schuller, Gunther | 1925 | American | Grand Concerto (100 percussionists and keyboards) Seven Studies on Themes of Paul Klee (orchestra) | |
| Schwantner, Joseph | 1943 | American | And the Mountains Rising Nowhere (wind ensemble) Sparrows (soprano & chamber ensemble) Chasing Light (orchestra) | |
| Stockhausen, Karlheinz ML410 .S858 | 1928 | 2007 | German | Gesang der Jünglinge (electronic & concrete music) Klavierstücke IX (piano solo) Kontakte (electronic sounds, piano, & percussion) Gruppen (3 orchestras) |
| Subotnick, Morton | 1933 | American | Silver Apples of the Moon (electronic music) All My Hummingbirds Have Alibis (interactive orchestra and electronic) | |
| Tavener, John | 1944 | British | Mahashakti (violin and orchestra) Ikon of Light (two choirs and chamber ensemble) | |
| Tower, Joan | 1938 | American | Petroushskates (chamber ensemble) Fanfare for the Uncommon Woman (brass and orchestra) | |
| Whitacre, Eric | 1970 | American | Lux Aurumque (virtual choir) Ghost Train Triptych (wind symphony) Paradise Lost: Shadows and Wings (musical theatre) | |
| Wolff, Christian | 1934 | American | Exercises (chamber) Keyboard Miscellany (piano) | |
| Wuorinen, Charles | 1938 | American | Archaeopteryx (bass trombone & chamber ensemble) Mass for the Restoration of St. Luke in the Fields (chorus & orchestra) Orchestral and Electronic Exchanges (orchestra & tape) | |
| Xenakis, Iannis | 1922 | 2001 | Greek | Metastasis (orchestra) Pleiades (percussion) |
| Young, La Monte | 1935 | American | Five Small Pieces (string quartet) The Well-Tuned Piano (solo) | |
| Zwilich, Ellen Taaffe | 1939 | American | Symphony No. 2 “Cello” Rituals (5 percussionists & orchestra) |