Mark-Anthony Turnage
Mark-Anthony Turnage was born on June 10, 1960, in Corringham, Essex. He was the oldest of three children. His parents loved classical music and were active members of the Pentecostal Christian church.
Thomas Adès
Thomas Joseph Edmund Adès CBE (born March 1, 1971) is a British composer, pianist, and conductor. Five of Adès’s compositions were selected in the 2017 Classic Voice poll of the greatest art music works from 2000 to 2017. These works include The Tempest (2004), Violin Concerto (2005), Tevot (2007), In Seven Days (2008), and Polaris (2010).
Esa-Pekka Salonen
Esa-Pekka Salonen (pronounced [ˈesɑˌpekːɑ ˈsɑlonen]; born June 30, 1958) is a Finnish conductor and composer. He has been named the principal conductor of Orchestre de Paris and the creative director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic. He has also held the title of conductor laureate for the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Philharmonia Orchestra in London, and the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra.
Magnus Lindberg
Magnus Gustaf Adolf Lindberg was born on June 27, 1958. He is a Finnish composer and pianist. From 2009 to 2012, he was the composer-in-residence for the New York Philharmonic.
Kaija Saariaho
Kaija Anneli Saariaho (Finnish: [ˈkɑi̯jɑ ˈsɑːriɑho]; born Kaija Laakkonen; October 14, 1952 – June 2, 2023) was a Finnish composer who lived and worked in Paris, France. Throughout her career, Saariaho received commissions from many important organizations, including the Lincoln Center for the Kronos Quartet, IRCAM for the Ensemble Intercontemporain, the BBC, the New York Philharmonic, the Salzburg Music Festival, the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris, and the Finnish National Opera. In a 2019 survey by BBC Music Magazine, Saariaho was named the greatest living composer.
Alvin Lucier
Alvin Augustus Lucier Jr. was born on May 14, 1931, and passed away on December 1, 2021. He was an American composer and artist who created unusual music.
Pauline Oliveros
Pauline Oliveros was born on May 30, 1932, and passed away on November 24, 2016. She was an American composer and musician who played the accordion. She was an important person in the growth of experimental and electronic music after World War II.
Lou Harrison
Lou Silver Harrison (May 14, 1917 – February 2, 2003) was an American composer, music critic, music theorist, painter, and inventor of special musical instruments. Early in his career, Harrison wrote music with unusual, very modern sounds similar to his teacher and contemporary, Henry Cowell. Later, he included music from other cultures in his work.
Harry Partch
Harry Partch (June 24, 1901 – September 3, 1974) was an American composer, music theorist, and inventor of special musical instruments. He wrote music using scales with unequal intervals based on just intonation, a tuning system that divides the octave into specific ratios. He was among the first 20th-century Western composers to use microtonal scales systematically, along with Lou Harrison.
Conlon Nancarrow
Samuel Conlon Nancarrow (October 27, 1912–August 10, 1997) was an American-born Mexican composer. He is best known for his work titled Studies for Player Piano, which made him one of the first composers to use instruments that play themselves. These instruments can perform music in ways that are impossible for humans to achieve.