Galina Ustvolskaya
Galina Ivanovna Ustvolskaya (Russian: Галина Ивановна Уствольская) was born on June 17, 1919, and passed away on December 22, 2006. She was a Russian composer who created classical music. She was known as “the lady with the hammer” because her music required performers to use great skill and effort.
Valentyn Silvestrov
Valentin Vasylyovych Silvestrov (Ukrainian: Валенти́н Васи́льович Сильве́тров), also known as Valentyn Vasilyevich Sylvestrov and Valentyn Vasil′yovych Sil’vestrov, was born on September 30, 1937. He is a Ukrainian composer and pianist who creates and performs modern classical music. He has won the Shevchenko National Prize.
Edison Denisov
Edison Vasilievich Denisov (Russian: Эдисо́н Васи́льевич Дени́сов), born on April 6, 1929, and died on November 24, 1996, was a Russian composer who belonged to the “Underground,” “alternative,” or “nonconformist” music groups in the Soviet Union.
Alfred Schnittke
Alfred Garrievich Schnittke (24 November 1934 – 3 August 1998) was a Soviet and Russian composer. He was one of the most performed and recorded composers of late 20th-century classical music. Musicologist Ivan Moody described Schnittke as a composer who used his music to show the moral and spiritual challenges of modern people in great detail.
Sofia Gubaidulina
Sofia Asgatovna Gubaidulina (October 24, 1931 – March 13, 2025) was a composer from the Soviet Union and Russia who created religious music with modern styles. She was very productive, writing many chamber music pieces, orchestral works, and choral compositions. Her music is known for showing differences between Western and Eastern musical traditions.
Julia Wolfe
Julia Wolfe was born on December 18, 1958. She is an American composer and a music professor at New York University. The Wall Street Journal says that her music has a unique area where classical forms are combined with simple, repeated patterns from minimalism and the powerful energy of rock music.
Tod Machover
Tod Machover (born November 24, 1953, in Mount Vernon, New York) is an Emmy-award winning composer, inventor of hyperinstruments and hyperscore software, supporter of music AI and participatory opera, and professor at the MIT Media Lab. In 1980, he was named Director of Musical Research at IRCAM. In 1985, he joined the faculty at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Media Lab, where he became Professor of Music and Media and Director of the Experimental Media Facility.
John Adams
John Adams was born on October 30, 1735, and died on July 4, 1826. He was a Founding Father and the second president of the United States, serving from 1797 to 1801. Before becoming president, he played a key role in the American Revolution, which helped the United States gain independence from Great Britain.
Meredith Monk
Meredith Jane Monk (born November 20, 1942) is an American composer, performer, director, vocalist, filmmaker, and choreographer. Starting in the 1960s, Monk created works that combine music, theatre, and dance. She has recorded many works for ECM Records.
Philip Glass
Philip Morris Glass (born January 31, 1937) is an American composer and pianist. He is widely considered one of the most important composers of the late 20th century. His music is often linked to minimalism, a style that uses repeated phrases and gradually changing layers.