The Atlanta School of Composers is a group of contemporary classical music composers championed by Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and conductor Robert Spano through performances, recordings, and commissions. Members of the group include Jennifer Higdon, Christopher Theofanidis, Osvaldo Golijov, and Michael Gandolfi, with Adam Schoenberg added in June 2010. Works from the group including the following:
Osvaldo Noé Golijov is an Argentine composer of classical music and music professor, known for his vocal and orchestral work.
Dawn Upshaw is an American soprano. She is the recipient of several Grammy Awards and has released a number of Edison Award-winning discs; she performs both opera and art song, and her repertoire spans Baroque to contemporary. Many composers, including Henri Dutilleux, Osvaldo Golijov, John Harbison, Esa-Pekka Salonen, John Adams, and Kaija Saariaho, have written for her. In 2007, she was awarded a MacArthur Fellowship.
The Orpheus Chamber Orchestra is a classical music chamber orchestra based in New York City. They have won several Grammy Awards, and are known for their collaborative leadership style in which the musicians, not a conductor, interpret the score.
Alvin Singleton is a composer from the United States. Born and raised in New York City, he received his music education from New York University (B.A.), studying with Hall Overton and Charles Wuorinen. Singleton then moved to study at Yale School of Music (M.M.), studying with Yehudi Wyner and Mel Powell. Singleton was a Fulbright Scholar, he studied with [Goffredo Petrassi] at [Accademia Nazionale] di Santa Cecilia in [Rome, Italy] from 1971-1985. After living and working in Europe for fourteen years, Singleton returned to the United States to become a Composer-in-Residence with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra (1985-88). He subsequently served as Resident Composer at Spelman College in Atlanta (1988-91), as UNISYS Composer-in-Residence with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra (1996-97), and was the 2002–03 Composer-in-Residence with the Ritz Chamber Players of Jacksonville, Florida. In addition, he has served as Visiting Professor of Composition at the Yale University School of Music.
Jennifer Elaine Higdon is an American composer of contemporary classical music. She has received many awards, including the 2010 Pulitzer Prize for Music for her Violin Concerto and three Grammy Awards for Best Contemporary Classical Composition for her Percussion Concerto in 2010, Viola Concerto in 2018, and Harp Concerto in 2020. Elected a Member of the American Philosophical Society in 2019, she was a professor of composition at the Curtis Institute of Music from 1994 to 2021.
Christopher Theofanidis is an American composer whose works have been performed by leading orchestras from around the world, including the London Symphony Orchestra, the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Moscow Soloists, the National, Atlanta, Baltimore, St. Louis, Detroit, and many others. He participated in the Young American Composer-in-Residence Program with Barry Jekowsky and the California Symphony from 1994 to 1996 and, more recently, served as Composer of the Year for the Pittsburgh Symphony during their 2006–2007 Season, for which he wrote a violin concerto for Sarah Chang.
The New Philharmonia Orchestra of Massachusetts, or the New Phil for short, is a 75-member mostly non-professional regional orchestra based in Newton, Massachusetts, U.S. It was founded in 1995. The New Phil performs in at the First Baptist Church in Newton, and on occasion at Mission Church in Boston's Roxbury neighborhood, as well as other locations in the region.
Robert Spano is an American conductor and pianist. He is currently music director of the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra, music director of the Aspen Music Festival and School, principal conductor of the Rhode Island Philharmonic Orchestra, and music director laureate of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra (ASO).
The Boston Modern Orchestra Project (BMOP) is a professional orchestra in Boston, Massachusetts, United States.
Ainadamaror An Opera in Three Images is the first opera by Argentinian composer Osvaldo Golijov. The libretto was written by American playwright David Henry Hwang and translated from English into Spanish by the composer. It premiered in Tanglewood on 10 August 2003 and, after major revisions, the new version was given its premiere at the Santa Fe Opera on 30 July 2005.
Kenneth A. Radnofsky is an American classical saxophonist. He specializes in the alto saxophone, but plays the soprano and other sizes as well. He currently teaches at the New England Conservatory of Music, and Boston University.
Michael James Gandolfi is an American composer of contemporary classical music. He chairs the composition department at the New England Conservatory of Music (NEC).
Rainbow Body is an orchestral composition by the American composer Christopher Theofanidis. It was commissioned by the Houston Symphony, which first performed the work in April 2000 under the conductor Robert Spano. The piece is dedicated to the Texas lawyer and philanthropist Glen Rosenbaum. Rainbow Body is one of Theofanidis's most-performed compositions and won the 2003 London Masterprize competition.
David Alan Miller is a multi-Grammy Award-winning American symphony orchestra conductor, and since 1992, music director of the Albany Symphony Orchestra. Miller served as assistant and associate conductor of the Los Angeles Philharmonic from 1987–92 and music director of the New York Youth Symphony from 1982-88. He is currently also Artistic Advisor to both the Sarasota Orchestra and to The Little Orchestra Society in New York City.
Miguel Alberto Harth-Bedoya is a Peruvian conductor. He was formerly music director of the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra from 2000 to 2020 and chief conductor of the Norwegian Radio Orchestra from 2013 to 2020. Starting the Fall of 2023, Harth-Bedoya became the Mary Franks Thompson Director of Orchestral Studies and Music Director of the Baylor University Symphony Orchestra.
21st-century classical music is art music in the contemporary classical tradition that has been produced since the year 2000. A loose and ongoing period, 21st-century classical music is defined entirely by the calendar and does not refer to a musical style in the sense of Baroque or Romantic music.
Giancarlo Guerrero is a Costa Rican orchestra conductor, born in Nicaragua. He is the music director of the Nashville Symphony in Nashville, Tennessee. Guerrero is also Music Director of the Wrocław Philharmonic at the National Forum of Music in Wrocław, Poland and has served as principal guest conductor of the Gulbenkian Orchestra in Lisbon, Portugal. He was formerly the associate conductor of the Minnesota Orchestra and the music director of the Eugene Symphony. He has won six Grammy Awards.
blue cathedral is an orchestral composition by the American composer Jennifer Higdon. The work was commissioned by the Curtis Institute of Music in 1999 to commemorate the conservatory's 75th anniversary. It was first performed in 2000 by the Curtis Institute of Music Symphony Orchestra. The piece is dedicated to the memory of Higdon's brother and is one of the composer's most performed works.
The Symphony is an orchestral composition in four movements by the American composer Christopher Theofanidis. It was commissioned by the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, which premiered the work under the conductor Robert Spano in April 2009. The piece is dedicated to Robert Spano "in admiration and friendship."
Creation/Creator is an oratorio for soprano, mezzo-soprano, tenor, baritone, bass, chorus, and orchestra by the American composer Christopher Theofanidis. The work was commissioned by the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and was first performed on April 23, 2015 by the soprano Jessica Rivera, mezzo-soprano Kelley O'Connor, tenor Thomas Cooley, baritone Nmon Ford, bass Evan Boyer, the actors Steven Cole and Shannon Eubanks, and the Atlanta Symphony Chorus and Orchestra under the conductor Robert Spano.