Musical composition, or simply composition, can refer to an original piece or work of music, either vocal or instrumental, the structure of a musical piece, or to the process of creating or writing a new piece of music. People who create new compositions are called composers. Composers of primarily songs are usually called songwriters; with songs, the person who writes lyrics for a song is the lyricist. In many cultures, including Western classical music, the act of composing typically includes the creation of music notation, such as a sheet music "score," which is then performed by the composer or by other instrumental musicians or singers. In popular music and traditional music, songwriting may involve the creation of a basic outline of the song, called the lead sheet, which sets out the melody, lyrics and chord progression. In classical music, orchestration is typically done by the composer, but in musical theatre and in pop music, songwriters may hire an arranger to do the orchestration. In some cases, a pop or traditional songwriter may not use written notation at all, and instead compose the song in their mind and then play, sing and/or record it from memory. In jazz and popular music, notable sound recordings by influential performers are given the weight that written or printed scores play in classical music.
Music of Lithuania refers to all forms of music associated with Lithuania, which has a long history of the folk, popular and classical musical development. Music was an important part of polytheistic, pre-Christian Lithuania – rituals were accompanied by music instruments and singing, deeds of the heroes and those who didn't return from the war were celebrated in songs.
The music of Iceland includes vibrant folk and pop traditions, as well as an active classical and contemporary music scene. Well-known artists from Iceland include medieval music group Voces Thules, alternative rock band The Sugarcubes, singers Björk, Hafdís Huld and Emiliana Torrini, post-rock band Sigur Rós, post-metal band Sólstafir, indie folk/indie pop band Of Monsters and Men and metal band Skálmöld. Iceland's traditional music is related to Nordic music forms. Although Iceland has a very small population, it is home to many famous and praised bands and musicians.
Stephanie McCallum is a classical pianist. She has recorded works of Erik Satie, Ludwig van Beethoven, Charles-Valentin Alkan, Franz Liszt, Robert Schumann, Carl Maria von Weber, Albéric Magnard, Pierre Boulez, and Iannis Xenakis among others.
Varèse Sarabande is an American record label, owned by Concord Music Group and distributed by Universal Music Group, which specializes in film scores and original cast recordings. It aims to reissue rare or unavailable albums, as well as newer releases by artists no longer under a contract. The label's name was derived from combining French-born composer Edgard Varèse's last name with the musical term sarabande, a slow Spanish dance.
The London Sinfonietta is an English contemporary chamber orchestra founded in 1968 and based in London.
Anthony Linden Jones is a composer, conductor and performer living in the Hawkesbury region, on the north west fringe of Sydney.
John Roger Smalley AM was an Anglo-Australian composer, pianist and conductor. Professor Smalley was a senior honorary research fellow at the School of Music, University of Western Australia in Perth and honorary research associate at the University of Sydney.
The Israel Music Institute (IMI) is the first publicly owned music publishing house in Israel. It is devoted primarily to the publication of Israeli art music, but also publishes books and booklets on Israeli music and composers, CDs of Israeli art music, and a periodical, IMI News. It is a non-profit organization supported by the Israel Ministry of Education, Culture and Sport.
Supraphon Music Publishing is a Czech record label, oriented mainly towards publishing classical music and popular music, with an emphasis on Czech and Slovak composers.
Bronius Kutavičius is a Lithuanian composer. From 1959 to 1964 Kutavičius studied Music Composition at the Lithuanian State Conservatory in lt:Antanas Račiūnas's composition class in Vilnius. He has written numerous oratorios and operas, among them The Last Pagan Rites, Lokys the Bear and The Gates of Jerusalem. He won the Lithuanian State Prize in 1995, and the prize of the Probaltica Festival in Toruń (Poland) in 1996.
Finnish Music Information Centre (Fimic) is an organization dedicated to the promotion and archiving of Finnish music. A member of the International Association of Music Information Centres (IAMIC), the International Association of Music Libraries (IAML) and the International Association of Sound and Audiovisual Archives (IASA), Fimic hosts a vast library of scores, parts, and recordings, and distributes unpublished sheet music. The organization covers nearly all genres of Finnish music, ranging from contemporary classical compositions to rock and folk music.
Martynas Mažvydas National Library of Lithuania is a national cultural institution which collects, organizes and preserves Lithuania's written cultural heritage content, develops the collection of Lithuanian and foreign documents relevant to research, educational and cultural needs of Lithuania, and provides library information services to the public.
Scottish Ensemble is a professional string orchestra based in Glasgow, Scotland and led by Artistic Director and violinist Jonathan Morton.
MusicaNeo is a global online music platform for free publishing and sale of digital sheet music and performing licenses. The platform caters for all categories of music lovers – professional composers, arrangers, teachers, conductors, text authors, editors, as well as amateur musicians.
The Library Božidar Kantušer, formerly known as International Library of Contemporary Music, is a non-profit association chartered under the French 1901 Law on associations. It was created in 1968 to promote contemporary music by facilitating access to published and unpublished scores from around the world. For this purpose, the library centralizes and lists the scores, and then facilitates their discovery by computerized means. At its inception the association was subsidized by the City of Fontainebleau and the French Ministry of Culture, further by the City of Paris and the Ministry of Culture. Since 2006, the collection of scores and recordings is available in Paris at the Médiathèque Hector Berlioz and through its OPAC.
Dalia Raudonikytė was a Lithuanian composer and pianist born in Oslo, Norway. She was profiled in the Lithuanian Music Encyclopedia, Muzikos Enciklopedija, in 2007. Her compositions ranged from electronic to orchestral and she was known to use literary references in her lyrics, quoting authors such as Thomas Wolfe, Picabia, Virginia Woolf, and Stefan Zweig in her works. She died on 7 September 2018 after a protracted fight with cancer.
