Jean Sibelius was a Finnish composer of the late Romantic and early-modern periods. He is widely regarded as his country's greatest composer, and his music is often credited with having helped Finland develop a stronger national identity when his country was struggling from several attempts at Russification in the late 19th century.
The earliest traces of Danish music go back to the many twisting Bronze-Age horns or lurs which some experts have identified as musical instruments. They have been discovered in various parts of Scandinavia, mostly Denmark, since the end of the 18th century. Denmark's most famous classical composer is Carl Nielsen, especially remembered for his six symphonies, while the Royal Danish Ballet specializes in the work of Danish choreographer August Bournonville. Danes have distinguished themselves as jazz musicians, and the Copenhagen Jazz Festival has acquired an international reputation. The modern pop and rock scene has produced a few names of note, including MØ, Dizzy Mizz Lizzy, Lukas Graham, D-A-D, Tina Dico, Aqua, The Raveonettes, Michael Learns to Rock, Volbeat, Alphabeat, Safri Duo, Medina, Oh Land, Kashmir, King Diamond, Outlandish, and Mew. Lars Ulrich is the first Danish musician to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Leevi Antti Madetoja was a Finnish composer, music critic, conductor, and teacher of the late-Romantic and early-modern periods. He is widely recognized as one of the most significant Finnish contemporaries of Jean Sibelius, under whom he studied privately from 1908 to 1910.
Per Nørgård is a Danish composer and music theorist. Though his style has varied considerably throughout his career, his music has often included repeatedly evolving melodies—such as the infinity series—in the vein of Jean Sibelius, and a perspicuous focus on lyricism. Reflecting on this, the composer Julian Anderson described his style as "one of the most personal in contemporary music". Nørgård has received several awards, including the 2016 Ernst von Siemens Music Prize.
Leif Selim Segerstam is a Finnish conductor, composer, violinist, violist and pianist, especially known for writing 371 symphonies, along with other works in his extensive oeuvre.
Arne Nordheim was a Norwegian composer. Nordheim received numerous awards for his compositions, and from 1982 lived in the Norwegian government's honorary residence, Grotten, next to the Royal Palace in Oslo. He was elected an honorary member of the International Society for Contemporary Music in 1997. On 18 August 2006, Arne Nordheim received a doctor honoris causa degree at the Norwegian Academy of Music. He died at the age of 78 and was given a state funeral.
Aulis Heikki Sallinen is a Finnish contemporary classical music composer. His music has been variously described as "remorselessly harsh", a "beautifully crafted amalgam of several 20th-century styles", and "neo-romantic". Sallinen studied at the Sibelius Academy, where his teachers included Joonas Kokkonen. He has had works commissioned by the Kronos Quartet, and has also written seven operas, eight symphonies, concertos for violin, cello, flute, horn, and English horn, as well as several chamber works. He won the Nordic Council Music Prize in 1978 for his opera Ratsumies.
Edvard Armas Järnefelt, was a Finnish conductor and composer, who achieved some minor success with his orchestral works Berceuse (1904) and Praeludium (1900). He spent much of his conducting career at the Royal Swedish Opera in Stockholm, Sweden.
Víctor Varela is a Venezuelan-Swedish composer based in Gothenburg. His compositions include works for orchestra, vocal and instrumental chamber music, with electronics and computer devices.
The vocal ensemble Mpiri is a Faroese choral ensemble based in Copenhagen. The members are mostly Faroese studying or working in Copenhagen. The conductor is Gorm Larsen.
Vladimir Graić is a Serbian composer of popular, film and television music. Among other pieces, he composed the song Molitva, performed by Marija Šerifović, which won the 2007 Eurovision Song Contest.
Peter Erasmus Lange-Müller was a Danish composer and pianist. His compositional style was influenced by Danish folk music and by the work of Robert Schumann; Johannes Brahms; and his Danish countrymen, including J.P.E. Hartmann.
Karin Rehnqvist is a Swedish composer and conductor of classical music. She composes chamber music, orchestral works, music for the stage, and particularly vocal music, incorporating elements of folk music such as the vocal technique of Kulning. In 2009 she was appointed the first female professor of composition at the Royal College of Music in Stockholm.
Musikforeningen in Copenhagen was Denmark's most important concert venue in the 19th century. It operated from 1838 to 1931 but it was especially under the leadership of Niels Gade (1850–90) that it became a meeting place for the city's music life with its own symphony orchestra and choir. Carl Nielsen was director from 1915–27. Other leaders included Franz Gläser, Emil Hartmann and Franz Neruda.
Jon Mostad is a composer from Fredrikstad, Norway. He received the Norwegian state three-year scholarship for artists from 1982 until 1984.
Klas Torstensson is a Swedish-Dutch composer.
Per Anders Hillborg is one of Sweden’s leading composers.
Mogens Dahl Chamber Choir is a professional vocal ensemble founded in 2005 in Copenhagen.
Patric Standford was an English composer, supporter of composers' rights, educationalist and author.
Jan Erik Mikalsen is a Norwegian composer of contemporary music, living in Oslo.
