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Anton Dvorak
He was a Czech composer who later went to America and influenced lots of American jazz later, especially folk-tune elements from African-American and Native American music used in the New World Symphony. Moreover, it influenced how American classical music should be like. -
Gustav Mahler
He was an Austrian-Bohemian Romantic composer who acted as a bridge between the 19th century Austro-German composer and the modernism of the early 20th century and also known for his symphonies such as First Symphony, where he used lots of brass, but at the same time some dramatic parts. Moreover, he conducted lots of operas and operettas. -
Claude Debussy
He was a French composer, who was also seen as the first impressionist and also known for using lots of whole tone, pentatonic scales as he was mostly influenced by lots of Russian and Far Eastern music. He also used parallel chords and unprepared modulations such as in Estampes for piano. -
Richard Strauss
He was a German composer who is known for his tone poems and operas, especially the Last Four Songs, and symphony pieces, especially Also sprach Zarathustra and also created an opera that was liberal, moving away from traditional Western themes, especially in Salome Moreover, he also was a prominent conductor and admired for interpretations of the works such as, Mozart, Wagner, and his own works. -
Jean Sibelius
He was a Finnish composer who used his music to express his native homeland such as in his Finlandia. This is significant because Finland had no identity since it was occupied by the Swedes and the Russian Empire. -
Will Marion Cook
He was an American composer, violinist and choral director, a student of Anton Dvorak. Moreover, he was also known for using folk elements in his songs such as The Origin of the Cake Walk. -
Arnold Schoenberg
He was an Austrian-born composer, music theorist, teacher, writer, and painter. He is widely known for being one of the most influential composers of the 20th century, as he opposed German Romantic styles of Brahms and Wagner, and he invented atonality and created the twelve-tone technique such as from his Kol Nidre. -
Charles Ives
He was an American modernist composer who was among the first composers to apply systematic program of experimental music, with musical techniques. These examples can be seen in The Unanswered Question and Central Park in the Dark. -
Bartok
He was a Hungarian composer, pianist, and ethnomusicologist who is one of the most important composers of the 20th century as he founded comparative musicology. Also, he used elements from Magyar folk melodies, and Gypsy such as in his Hungarian Rhapsodies for piano. -
Igor Stravinsky
He was composer, pianist, and conductor, born in Russia. Moreover, he is known for his Ballets Russes, which are examples of his neoclassical music, revolutionizing the musical design by pushing the boundaries. -
Sergey Prokofiev
He was known as a Soviet composer, pianist, and conductor who wrote a more classical-style piece such as in his ballet Romeo and Juliet. Additionally, he also has pieces that sound like traditional classical pieces such as in the film scores for Ivan the Terrible, and Aleksander Nevsky, compared to all of Shostakovich’s patriotic and modern pieces. -
Henry Cowell
He was known as an American composer, music theorist, pianist, teacher, publisher, impresario, and the husband of Sidney Robertson Cowell. Also, he is known to cover a wider range in both expression and technique than other living composers, and this can be seen in Symphony No. 13, "Madras". -
George Gershwin
He was an American composer and pianist who composed both popular and classical genres. These examples can be seen in I Got Rhythm and Porgy and Bess. -
Aaron Copland
He was an American composer, composition teacher, writer, and a conductor his own and other American music. He is also known as a leftist, and he is known for using his American folk tunes such as in Appalachian Spring, Rodeo, and Fanfare for Common Man. -
Dmitiry Shostakovich
He was known as a Soviet composer and a pianist, who used unique musical techniques and later moved to composing a much more modern-sounding music. Moreover, he is also known for his Symphony No. 5 and Symphony No. 7, film scores Glory to Stalin, The Unforgettable Year 1919, and Golden Mountains. -
Olivier Messiaen
He was a French composer who employed the system called modes of limited transposition. Moreover, he created bird songs and also composed pieces with religious themes but also foreign elements. -
Elliott Carter
He was an American modernist composer who was one of the most respected composers of the second half of the 20th century. Moreover, he combined dements of European modernism and American “ultra-modernism” along with his person harmonic and rhythmic language such as in his Double Concerto for Harpsichord and Piano with Two Chamber Orchestras. -
John Cage
He was an American composer, music theorist, artist, and philosopher and created a lot of indeterminacy in music, electroacoustic music, non-standard use of musical instruments. Moreover, he also wrote music that does not involve sound such as in his 4’33” . -
Witold Lutoslawski
He was a Polish composer and orchestral conductor. Also, he was influenced by Polish folk music, and he was known for his first performance called Musique funebre. -
Benjamin Britten
He was an English composer, conductor, and pianist. Moreover, he is famous for his Peter Grimes, the War Requiem, and the The Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra. -
Milton Babbitt
He was an American composer, music theorist, mathematician, and teacher. Also, he is well-known for creating his serial and electronic music such as in Philomel, where it is for soprano but synthesized. -
Ianni Xenakis
He was a Greek-French composer, music theorist, architect, performance director and engineer. Moreover, he is known as incorporating mathematical models in music such as set theory, stochastic processes, and game theory, such as in Metastaseis for orchestra, Psappha, and Pleiades, where a lot of these can be seen. -
Gyorgy Ligeti
He was a Hungarian-Austrian composer of contemporary classical music. Moreover, he would use very complicated rhythms that would go on continuously while it would sound very chaotic, such as in the Requiem. -
Pierre Boulez
He was a French composer, conductor, writer and founder of several musical institutions. Also, he played an important role in the development of integral serialism and controlled chance music, but included landmarks of twentieth century, and these can be seen in his Le Martaeu sans maitre. -
Morton Feldman
He was an American composer who let each chord what it had to say. Some of these examples can be seen in his Extensions 3 releasing the power of each notes. -
Karlheinz Stockhausen
He was a controversial German composer who is known for electronic music, introducing controlled chance. Examples of these can be seen in his Klaviertucke. -
Toru Takemitsu
He was a Japanese composer and writer on aesthetics and music theory. Also, he is known for his skill in possessing consummate skill in the subtle manipulation of instrumental and orchestral timbre, and these can be seen in his November Steps. -
Alfred Schnittke
He was known as a Soviet and German composer who had a strong influence of Shostakovich. Also, he applied serial technique including in Music for Piano and Chamber Orchestra. -
Terrence Mitchell Riley
He is an American composer and performing musician, but also a pioneer of the minimalist school of composition. Also, he is known for important influences on experimental rock, and electronic, as these could seen in his A Rainbow in Curved Air. -
Arvo Part
He is an Estonian composer of classical and religious music. Also, some of his most performed works are Fratres, Spiegel im Spiegel, and Fur Alina. -
La Monte Young
He was an American composer, musician, and artist, who was recognized as one of the first American minimalist composers, and he was also a central figure in the post-war avant-garde music. Also, he is known to be influenced by mathematical composition but also as in his Hindustani classical music practice, and some of these can be seen in his Dream House. -
Helmut Lachenmann
He is a German composer of contemporary classical music. Also, he created his works based on the most basics of sounds, and he also created opera called The Little Match Girl. -
Steve Reich
He is an American composer who used minimalism by using the repetitive figures, harmonic rhythm, and cannons. Also, these are seen in most of his music including in his It's Gonna Rain and in Come Out. -
Philip Glass
He is an American composer and pianist and also regarded as on of the most influential composers of the late 20th century. He founded the Philip Glass ensemble and also known for his Piano Phase. -
Louis Andriessen
He is a Dutch composer and pianist based in Amsterdam. Also, he helped the foundation of the instrumental groups Orkest de Volharding and Hoketus and wrote his own idiosyncratic instrumental combinations, and he also wrote Workers Union. -
Michael Nyman
He is an English composer of minimalist music, pianist, librettist, and musicologist. Also, he is known for his film scores but also operas such as The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat. -
John Adams
He is known as an American composer and conductor of classical music and opera, who also has strong roots with minimalism. Additionally, he is known for writing some pieces, especially On the Transmigration of Souls and Doctor Atomic. -
Michael Gordon
He is an American composer and co-founder of Bang on a Can music collective and festival. Also, he made The Carbon Copy Building, with a collaboration with composers Julia Wolfe and David Lang. -
Osvaldo Golijov
He is an Argentine composer of classical music and music professor, but known for his goal and orchestral work. Also, he because he grew up listening to chamber music, Jewish liturgical and klezmer music, some of these can be seen in his Dreams and Prayers of Isaac and the Blind. -
Thomas Ades
He is a British composer, pianist, and conductor. Also, he is known for writing Violin Concerto, The Tempest, Tevot, In Seven Days, and Polaris, which were considered the greatest works of art music since 2000. -
Harry Partch
He was known as an American composer, music theorist, and creator of music instruments. Also, he composed many pieces using scales of unequal intervals in just notation, and was one of the first 20th century composers in the West to work systematically with microtonal scales, and these are seen in his book called the Genesis of a Music.