Elliott Cook Carter Jr. was an American modernist composer. One of the most respected composers of the second half of the 20th century, he combined elements of European modernism and American "ultra-modernism" into a distinctive style with a personal harmonic and rhythmic language, after an early neoclassical phase. His compositions are performed throughout the world, and include orchestral, chamber music, solo instrumental, and vocal works. The recipient of many awards, Carter was twice awarded the Pulitzer Prize for his string quartets; he also wrote the large-scale orchestral triptych Symphonia: sum fluxae pretium spei.
Unsuk Chin is a South Korean composer of contemporary classical music, who is based in Berlin, Germany. Chin was a self-taught pianist from a young age and studied composition at Seoul National University as well as with György Ligeti at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater Hamburg.
Benjamin Lees was an American composer of classical music.
Steven "Steve" Mackey is an American composer, guitarist, and music educator.
Derek Bermel is an American composer, clarinetist and conductor whose music blends various facets of world music, funk and jazz with largely classical performing forces and musical vocabulary. He is the recipient of various awards including a Guggenheim Fellowship and the American Academy in Rome's Rome Prize awarded to artists for a year-long residency in Rome.
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.
Michael Nathaniel Hersch is an American composer and pianist. He currently serves as faculty at the Johns Hopkins Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore, Maryland, where he completed his own studies in music composition. The New York Times has commented that he writes "extraordinarily communicative music" and that "Mr. Hersch's music speaks for itself eloquently".
Arlene Sierra is an American composer of contemporary classical music, working in London, United Kingdom.
Sebastian Currier is an American composer of music for chamber groups and orchestras. He was also a professor of music at Columbia University from 1999 to 2007.
Barry Ernest Conyngham,, is an Australian composer and academic. He has over 70 published works and over 30 recordings featuring his compositions, and his works have been premiered or performed in Australia, Japan, North and South America, the United Kingdom and Europe. His output is largely for orchestra, ensemble or dramatic forces. He is an Emeritus Professor of both the University of Wollongong and Southern Cross University. He is former Dean of the Faculty of the Fine Arts and Music at the University of Melbourne.
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.
David T. Little is a Grammy-nominated American composer, record producer, and drummer known for his operatic, orchestral, and chamber works, most notably his operas JFK,Soldier Songs, and Dog Days which was named a standout opera of recent decades by The New York Times. He is the artistic director of Newspeak, an eight-piece amplified ensemble that explores the boundaries between rock and classical music, and is the Chair of the composition faculty at Mannes School of Music.
Yotam Haber is a composer based in Kansas City. He is a 2005 Guggenheim fellow, a 2007 Rome Prize winner in Music Composition., and was named a 2023-2024 Fulbright Distinguished Senior Scholar, teaching and researching at the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance.
Eugene O'Brien is an American composer who has been a member of the faculty at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music since 1987. He was chair of the Composition Department from 1994 to 1999, and is currently executive associate dean. He has been a member of the composition faculties at Cleveland Institute of Music in Cleveland, and Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C.
Jake Runestad is an American composer and conductor of classical music based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He has composed music for a wide variety of musical genres and ensembles, but has achieved greatest acclaim for his work in the genres of opera, orchestral music, choral music, and wind ensemble. One of his principal collaborators for musical texts has been Todd Boss.
Jonathan Lloyd is a British composer.
Natalie Draper is an American composer who teaches composition at Syracuse University's Setnor School of Music.
Lawrence Irving Wilde, is a composer, educator, violinist, and nyckelharpa player. Wilde has been commissioned by and collaborated with ensembles such as the Kronos Quartet, Eighth Blackbird, JACK Quartet, ÆON Music Ensemble, Sō Percussion, Tesla Quartet, Aspen Music Festival Orchestra, Moscow String Quartet, Ensemble Mise-En, Juilliard Orchestra, and others.
Ailbhe McDonagh is an Irish concert cellist and composer. She performs internationally as a soloist, chamber musician and recording artist with several studio albums to her name. McDonagh has composed works for orchestra, chamber music ensembles and pedagocial purposes. Collections of her compositions have been published by Boosey & Hawkes and are featured regularly in the ABRSM, Royal Irish Academy of Music and other exam syllabi. McDonagh is a professor of cello at the Royal Irish Academy of Music in Dublin, Ireland.
