James Matheson (born 1970 in Des Moines, Iowa) is an American composer. His works have been commissioned and performed by the Albany Symphony Orchestra, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, New York Philharmonic, Borromeo String Quartet, Carnegie Hall and the St. Lawrence String Quartet. In December 2011, he received the Charles Ives Living from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, an award providing him with $100,000 for two years (2012-2014). Previously, he received the Academy’s Goddard Lieberson Fellowship in 2008 and Hinrichsen Award in 2002. He has also received awards from the Civitella Ranieri, Bogliasco and Sage Foundations, ASCAP, and the Robbins Prize. He was executive director of the MATA Festival of New Music in New York from 2005-2007 and has been a fellow at the Aspen Music Festival. Since September 2009, he has been the director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s Composer Fellowship Program.
Unchained (2017) for orchestra without strings Commissioned by the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Gustavo Dudamel, Music Director. The premiere performances took place February 24, 25, and 26th with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, James Gaffigan, cond. [1]
Violin Concerto (2011) for violin and large orchestra 25’ Co-Commissioned by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and the Los Angeles Philharmonic Premiere performances by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra (Baird Dodge, violin; Esa-Pekka Salonen, cond.), December 15, 16 and 17th, 2011 and the Los Angeles Philharmonic (Martin Chalifour, violin; Pablo Heras-Casado, cond.), March 2, 3 and 4th, 2012
Four Fanfares (2011) for large orchestra 2' Commissioned by the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Gustavo Dudamel, Music Director Premiere performances by the Los Angeles Philharmonic, April 23 and 30, 2011, David Afkham, cond.
True South (2010) for small orchestra 16' Commissioned by the New York Philharmonic, Alan Gilbert, Music Director Premiere performances by the New York Philharmonic, December 17 and 18, 2010, Alan Gilbert, cond.
Borromean Rings (2010) for piano, 2 violins, viola and cello 20' Commissioned by the Cheswatyr Foundation, premiered August 29, 2010 at Maverick Concerts, with the Borromeo String Quartet and Judith Gordon, piano
Fault Lines (2009) for piano, violin, viola and cello 10' Commissioned by Mayfest, premiered May 21, 2010
Sharp Objects (2008) for string orchestra without basses 5' Commissioned for by Phillips Academy for the Corelli Ensemble Premiered February 29, 2007
The Anatomy of Melancholy (2008) for Bb clarinet, violin, 'cello and piano 16' Commissioned by Antares, premiered February 8, 2008 at the Ravinia Festival
Quartet for Oboe and Strings (2008) for oboe, violin, viola and cello 11' Commissioned by Winsor Music, premiered September 20, 2008
Cradle Songs (2008) for SATB Chorus 10' Commissioned by Phillips Academy (Andover) for Fidelio Settings of two poems by William Blake titled "A Cradle Song"
Violin Sonata (2007) for violin and piano 16' Commissioned by Brooklyn Friends of Chamber Music
On Spaces (2007) for piano six hands 4' Commissioned by Phillips Academy (Andover) for the dedication of the school's new Steinway D grand piano
Contact (2005) for alto saxophone and piano 14’ Commissioned by a consortium of nineteen saxophone/piano duos
La Seine (2007) for English horn (also arr. for Alto Saxophone) 4' Commissioned by the Albany Symphony Orchestra
Songs of Desire, Love and Loss (2004) for soprano and mixed chamber ensemble 20’ A setting of seven poems by Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Alan Dugan Commissioned by Carnegie Hall, Premiered October 10, 2004
Umbras and Illuminations (2004) for orchestra 20’ Commissioned by the Albany Symphony Orchestra Premiered by ASO April 23, 2004, David Alan Miller, cond.
Colonnade (2003) for chamber orchestra 18’ Commissioned by the Albany Symphony Orchestra Premiered by ASO, David Alan Miller, cond.
The Paces (2003) for piano and chamber orchestra 20’ Commissioned by the Stott Fund Premiered by Charles Abramovic and Orchestra 2001, Kimmel Center, PA
River, River, River (2001) for orchestra 10’ Commissioned by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra Premiered by Civic Orchestra of Chicago, Orchestra Hall, Chicago
Burn (2001) for Wind Ensemble 9’ Commissioned by the Cornell University Wind Ensemble
Buzz (2001) for clarinet, violin, cello, and piano 7’ Premiered by Ensemble X Recorded by Antares on Innova
Falling (2000) for piano trio 13’ Premiered by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra (chamber series) Published by C.F. Peters Corporation
Gliss (1999) for orchestra 12’ Premiered August 1999 by the Festival Orchestra of the Hartwick College Summer Music Festival and Institute chamber orchestra
Pound (1999) for piano solo 11’ Premiered by Xak Bjerken at Cornell University Recorded by Mr. Bjerken on High Rise (CRI)
Spin (1998) for string quartet 13’ May 16, 1999, Chicago Symphony Orchestra (chamber series)
Sleep (1997) concerto for violin and chamber orchestra 25’ Premiered March 1997 by Baird Dodge, violin and Festival Orchestra, Cornell University, Mark Scatterday, cond.
Nonet (1990) for mixed ensemble 9’ Premiered by Orchestra 2001, Philadelphia, PA
Esa-Pekka Salonen is a Finnish conductor and composer. He is the music director of the San Francisco Symphony and conductor laureate of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Philharmonia Orchestra in London and the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra. In 2024, he announced his resignation from the San Francisco Symphony upon the expiration of his contract in 2025.
Joan Tower is a Grammy-winning contemporary American composer, concert pianist and conductor. Lauded by The New Yorker as "one of the most successful woman composers of all time", her bold and energetic compositions have been performed in concert halls around the world. After gaining recognition for her first orchestral composition, Sequoia (1981), a tone poem which structurally depicts a giant tree from trunk to needles, she has gone on to compose a variety of instrumental works including Fanfare for the Uncommon Woman, which is something of a response to Aaron Copland's Fanfare for the Common Man, the Island Prelude, five string quartets, and an assortment of other tone poems. Tower was pianist and founding member of the Naumburg Award-winning Da Capo Chamber Players, which commissioned and premiered many of her early works, including her widely performed Petroushskates.
Thomas Joseph Edmund Adès is a British composer, pianist and conductor. Five compositions by Adès received votes in the 2017 Classic Voice poll of the greatest works of art music since 2000: The Tempest (2004), Violin Concerto (2005), Tevot (2007), In Seven Days (2008), and Polaris (2010).
John Harris Harbison is an American composer and academic.
Rodion Konstantinovich Shchedrin is a Soviet and Russian composer and pianist, winner of USSR State Prize (1972), the Lenin Prize (1984), and the State Prize of the Russian Federation (1992), and is a former member of the Inter-regional Deputies Group (1989–1991). He is also a citizen of Lithuania and Spain.
Steven Edward Stucky was a Pulitzer Prize-winning American composer.
Richard Danielpour is an American composer and academic, currently affiliated with the Curtis Institute of Music and the University of California, Los Angeles.
Philip Cashian is an English composer. He is the head of composition at the Royal Academy of Music.
Bernard Rands is a British-American contemporary classical composer. He studied music and English literature at the University of Wales, Bangor, and composition with Pierre Boulez and Bruno Maderna in Darmstadt, Germany, and with Luigi Dallapiccola and Luciano Berio in Milan, Italy. He held residencies at Princeton University, the University of Illinois, and the University of York before emigrating to the United States in 1975; he became a U.S. citizen in 1983. In 1984, Rands's Canti del Sole, premiered by Paul Sperry, Zubin Mehta, and the New York Philharmonic, won the Pulitzer Prize for Music. He has since taught at the University of California, San Diego, the Juilliard School, Yale University, and Boston University. From 1988 to 2005 he taught at Harvard University, where he is Walter Bigelow Rosen Professor of Music Emeritus.
Christopher Chapman Rouse III was an American composer. Though he wrote for various ensembles, Rouse is primarily known for his orchestral compositions, including a Requiem, a dozen concertos, and six symphonies. His work received numerous accolades, including the Kennedy Center Friedheim Award, the Grammy Award for Best Classical Contemporary Composition, and the Pulitzer Prize for Music. He also served as the composer-in-residence for the New York Philharmonic from 2012 to 2015.
Thomas M. Sleeper was an American composer and conductor. He was the Orchestra Conductor at Stetson University in DeLand, Florida from 1985 to 1993, and Director of Orchestral Activities and Conductor of the University of Miami Frost Symphony Orchestra until his retirement in 2018. He was also the director of the Florida Youth Orchestra from 1993 to 2020.
Mark Grey is an American classical music composer, sound designer and sound engineer.
Huw Thomas Watkins is a British composer and pianist. Born in South Wales, he studied piano and composition at Chetham's School of Music in Manchester, where he received piano lessons from Peter Lawson. He then went on to read music at King's College, Cambridge, where he studied composition with Robin Holloway and Alexander Goehr, and completed an MMus in composition at the Royal College of Music, where he studied with Julian Anderson. Huw Watkins was awarded the Constant and Kit Lambert Junior Fellowship at the Royal College of Music, where he used to teach composition. He is currently Honorary Research Fellow at the Royal College of Music.
Miguel del Águila is a prolific Uruguay-born American composer of contemporary classical music. He has been nominated three times for Grammys and has received numerous other awards.
Enrico Chapela is a Mexican contemporary classical composer, whose works have been played by multiple major orchestras and has been commissioned to compose for institutions such as the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the National Center for the Performing Arts (Beijing) and the Festival Internacional Cervantino. His work is influenced by modern popular musical styles such as rock and electronic, as well as Mexican popular culture.
Michael Schelle, born January 22, 1950, in Philadelphia, is a composer of contemporary concert music. He is also a performer, conductor, author, and teacher.
Victoria Ellen Bond is an American conductor and composer in New York City.
Ayal Adler, is an Israeli composer. Active internationally, his works are continuously performed worldwide. Serves as Associate Professor in composition and theory at the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance. Recipient of numerous awards, including: Two Prime- Minister Awards for Composers; Two Acum Prizes, and the first prize at the RMN International Composition Competition in London. Serves as the Chairman of the Israeli Composers' League.
Sebastian Fagerlund is a Finnish composer. He is described as “a post-modern impressionist whose sound landscapes can be heard as ecstatic nature images which, however, are always inner images, landscapes of the mind”. Echoes of Western culture, Asian musical traditions, and heavy metal have all been detected in his music.