This page is dedicated to contemporary composers. Composer profiles along with related information can be found here.
John Barry: Remembering an iconic film composer
Film composer John Barry died from a heart attack on Sunday, January 30, 2011. He was 77 years old. Born John Barry Prendergast on November 3, 1933 in York, England, he received piano lessons at a young age. He soon found a new passion in the trumpet. Barry lived most of his adult life in Oyster Bay, Long, Island, New York.
American Music Pioneer Milton Babbitt passes away
On Saturday, January 29, 2011 avant-garde composer Milton Babbitt passed away. He was 96. Babbitt, born May 10, 1916, is best known for his work in incorporating the synthesizer into contemporary classical music. In the 1950s Babbitt was hired by RCA as a consultant to help develop the Mark II synthesizer. He was also the founder and director of the Columbia-Princeton Electronic Music Center where the Mark II was installed.
Composer Birthdays: February
10, 1961 DALBAVIE, Marc-André 12, 1898 HARRIS, Roy 12, 1977 DANGERFIELD, Joseph 15, 1947 ADAMS, John 15, 1949 ROUSE, Christopher 16, 1938 CORIGLIANO, John 19, 1885 BERG, Alban
Composer Birthdays: January
2, 1905 TIPPETT, Sir Michael Kemp 6, 1872 SCRIABIN, Alexander Nikolaevich 11, 1902 DURUFLE, Maurice 20, 1894 PISTON, Walter Hamor 20, 1899 TCHEREPNIN, Alexander 22, 1916 DUTILLEUX, Henri 24, 1913 DELLO JOIO, Norman 25, 1913 LUTOSLAWSKI, Witold 28, 1944 TAVENER, John 29, 1876 BRIAN, Havergal
Composer Birthdays: December
3, 1883 WEBERN, Anton Friedrich Wilhelm von 6, 1933 GÓRECKI, Henryk Mikolaj 8, 1890 MARTINU, Bohuslav 9, 1882 TURINA, Joaquín 10, 1908 MESSIAEN, Olivier 10, 1913 GOULD, Morton 11, 1908 CARTER, Elliott 16, 1882 KODALY, Zóltan 30, 1904 KABALEVSKY, Dmitri Borisovich 31, 1899 REVUELTAS, Silvestre 31, 1962 HIGDON, Jennifer
Kaija Saariaho at 50
This article was originally written in October 2002. October 14, 2002 saw the 50th birthday of composer Kaija Saariaho. Over the last 5-10 years Saariaho has been gaining prominence among American audiences. This Finnish-born composer has been living and working in Paris for about the last 20 twenty years. She began studying music composition at [...]
Henryk Górecki dies at the age of 76
Polish-born composer Henryk Górecki passed away on November 12, 2010 at the age of 76. Górecki died in the cardiology ward of a hospital in his home city of Katowice in southern Poland. He died from complications due to a lung infection. Best known for his Symphony No. 3, op. 36 “Symphony of Sorrowful Songs” [...]
