View source for Contemporary classical music

{{short description|Post-1945 period in classical music}}
{{redirect|Contemporary art music|other forms of contemporary music|Popular music}}
{{History of Western art music}}

'''Contemporary classical music''' is [[Western art music]] composed close to the present day. At the beginning of the [[21st-century classical music|21st century]], it commonly referred to the post-1945 [[Modernism (music)|post-tonal]] music after the death of [[Anton Webern]], and included [[serial music]], [[electronic music]], [[experimental music]], and [[minimalist music]]. Newer forms of music include [[spectral music]] and ''[[Postminimalism#Music|post-minimalism]]''.

== History ==
=== Background ===
{{Main|20th-century classical music}}

At the beginning of the 20th century, composers of [[classical music]] were experimenting with an increasingly [[Consonance and dissonance|dissonant]] pitch language, which sometimes yielded [[atonality|atonal]] pieces. Following [[World War I]], as a backlash against what they saw as the increasingly exaggerated gestures and formlessness of late [[Romanticism]], certain composers adopted a [[Neoclassicism (music)|neoclassic]] style, which sought to recapture the balanced forms and clearly perceptible thematic processes of earlier styles{{sfn|Whittall|2001}} (see also [[New Objectivity]] and [[social realism]]). In the [[post-war era]], modernist composers sought to achieve greater levels of control in their composition process (e.g., through the use of the [[twelve-tone technique]] and later total [[serialism]]). At the same time, conversely, composers also experimented with means of abdicating control, exploring indeterminacy or aleatoric processes in smaller or larger degrees.{{sfn|Schwartz|Godfrey|1993|loc=ch. 7: "Order and Chaos", pp. 78ff}} Technological advances led to the birth of electronic music.{{sfn|Manning|2004|pp=19ff}} Experimentation with tape loops and repetitive textures contributed to the advent of [[minimalism]].{{sfn|Schwartz|Godfrey|1993|p=325}} Still other composers started exploring the theatrical potential of the musical performance ([[performance art]], [[mixed media]], [[fluxus]]).{{sfn|Schwartz|Godfrey|1993|pp=289ff}} New works of contemporary classical music continue to be created. Each year, the [[Boston Conservatory at Berklee]] presents 700 performances. New works from contemporary classical music program students comprise roughly 150 of these performances.<ref>{{cite web |title=Master of Music in Contemporary Classical Music Performance |access-date=October 11, 2018 |url=https://bostonconservatory.berklee.edu/contemporary-music/mm-contemporary-classical-music-performance |archive-date=October 27, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191027164002/https://bostonconservatory.berklee.edu/contemporary-music/mm-contemporary-classical-music-performance |url-status=live }}</ref>

=== 1945–75 ===
To some extent, European and American traditions diverged after World War II. Among the most influential composers in Europe were [[Pierre Boulez]], [[Luigi Nono]], and [[Karlheinz Stockhausen]]. The first and last were both pupils of [[Olivier Messiaen]]. An important aesthetic philosophy as well as a group of compositional techniques at this time was [[serialism]] (also called "through-ordered music", "'total' music" or "total tone ordering"), which took as its starting point the compositions of [[Arnold Schoenberg]] and [[Anton Webern]] (and thus was opposed to traditional twelve-tone music), and was also closely related to [[Le Corbusier]]'s idea of the ''[[modulor]]''.{{sfn|Bandur|2001|pp=5, 10–11}} However, some more traditionally based composers such as [[Dmitri Shostakovich]] and [[Benjamin Britten]] maintained a tonal style of composition despite the prominent serialist movement.

In America, composers like [[Milton Babbitt]], [[John Cage]], [[Elliott Carter]], [[Henry Cowell]], [[Philip Glass]], [[Steve Reich]], [[George Rochberg]], and [[Roger Sessions]] formed their own ideas. Some of these composers (Cage, Cowell, Glass, Reich) represented a new methodology of [[experimental music]], which began to question fundamental notions of music such as [[musical notation|notation]], [[performance]], duration, and repetition, while others (Babbitt, Rochberg, Sessions) fashioned their own extensions of the twelve-tone serialism of [[Arnold Schoenberg|Schoenberg]].

== Movements ==
=== Neoromanticism ===
{{Main|Neoromanticism (music)}}
The vocabulary of extended tonality, which flourished in the late 19th and very early 20th centuries, continues to be used by contemporary composers.  It has never been considered shocking or controversial in the larger musical world—as has been demonstrated statistically for the United States, at least, where "most composers continued working in what has remained throughout this century the mainstream of tonal-oriented composition".{{sfn|Straus|1999|pp=303, 307–308, 310–11, 314–329}}

=== High modernism ===
{{Main|High modernism}}

[[Serialism]] is one of the most important post-war movements among the high modernist schools. Serialism, more specifically named "integral" or "compound" serialism, was led by composers such as [[Pierre Boulez]], [[Luciano Berio]], [[Bruno Maderna]], [[Luigi Nono]], and [[Karlheinz Stockhausen]] in Europe, and by [[Milton Babbitt]], [[Donald Martino]], [[Mario Davidovsky]], and [[Charles Wuorinen]] in the United States. Some of their compositions use an ordered set or several such sets, which may be the basis for the whole composition, while others use "unordered" sets. The term is also often used for [[dodecaphony]], or [[twelve-tone technique]], which is alternatively regarded as the model for integral serialism.

Despite its decline in the last third of the 20th century, there remained at the end of the century an active core of composers who continued to advance the ideas and forms of high modernism. Those no longer living include [[Pierre Boulez]], [[Pauline Oliveros]], [[Toru Takemitsu]],  [[Jacob Druckman]],  [[George Perle]], [[Ralph Shapey]],{{sfn|Botstein|2001|loc=§9}} [[Franco Donatoni]], [[Wolfgang Rihm]], [[Jonathan Harvey (composer)|Jonathan Harvey]],<ref name="schwartz"/> [[Erkki Salmenhaara]], [[Henrik Otto Donner]] and [[Richard Wernick]].{{sfn|Anderson|1992|loc=18}} Those still living in October 2025 include [[Helmut Lachenmann]], [[Salvatore Sciarrino]], [[Magnus Lindberg (Finnish composer)|Magnus Lindberg]],<ref name="schwartz">{{harvnb|Schwartz|1994|p=199}}</ref> [[George Benjamin (composer)|George Benjamin]], [[Brian Ferneyhough]], [[Richard Edward Wilson|Richard Wilson]], and [[James MacMillan]].{{sfn|Johnson|2001}}

==== Electronic music ====
{{Main|Electronic music}}

===== Computer music =====
{{Main|Computer music}}
Between 1975 and 1990, a shift in the paradigm of [[computer]] technology had taken place, making electronic music systems affordable and widely accessible. The personal computer had become an essential component of the electronic musician's equipment, superseding [[Analog synthesizer|analog]] [[synthesizer]]s and fulfilling the traditional functions of composition and scoring, synthesis and sound processing, sampling of audio input, and control over external equipment.{{sfn|Holmes|2008|p=272}}{{Update inline|date=March 2022|reason=Not a subtype of "electronic music" anymore; many non-electronic musicians use computers to compose and record music. The field has also massively expanded since 2008.}}

==== Music theatre ====
{{Main|Music theatre}}

==== Spectral music ====
{{Main|Spectral music}}

==== Polystylism (eclecticism) ====
{{Main|Polystylism}}
Some authors equate polystylism with [[eclecticism]], while others make a sharp distinction.<ref>''[[OED]]'', entry "Polystylistic", quoting Christian & Cornwall's ''Guide to Russian Literature'' (1998): "Zhdanov is eclectic; he mixes high poetic, archaic, scientific and everyday realities without imposing any hierarchy. His manner may be called ‘polystylistic’", and entry "Polystylist", quoting ''Musical America'', November 1983: "An eclectic only ''passively'' collects material from different sources, but a polystylist puts together what he collects, consciously, in a new way."</ref>

=== Post-modernism ===
{{Main|Postmodern music}}

==== Minimalism and post-minimalism ====
{{Main|Minimalist music|Post-minimalism}}

==== Historicism ====
[[Musical historicism]]—the use of historical materials, structures, styles, techniques, media, conceptual content, etc., whether by a single composer or those associated with a particular school, movement, or period—is evident to varying degrees in minimalism, post-minimalism, world-music, and other genres in which tonal traditions have been sustained or have undergone a significant revival in recent decades.{{sfn|Watkins|1994|pp=440–442, 446–448}} Some post-minimalist works employ medieval and other genres associated with early music, such as the "Oi me lasso" and other [[laude]] of [[Gavin Bryars]].

The historicist movement is closely related to the emergence of musicology and the [[early music revival]]. A number of historicist composers have been influenced by their intimate familiarity with the instrumental practices of earlier periods ([[Hendrik Bouman]], Grant Colburn, [[Michael Talbot (musicologist)|Michael Talbot]], [[Paulo Galvão]], [[Roman Turovsky-Savchuk]]). The musical historicism movement has also been stimulated by the formation of such international organizations as the [[Delian Society]] and [[Vox Saeculorum]].{{sfn|Colburn|2007|pp=36–45, 54–55}}

==== Art rock influence ====
Some composers have emerged since the 1980s who are influenced by [[art rock]], for example, [[Rhys Chatham]].{{sfn|Chatham|1994}}

==== New Simplicity ====
{{Main|New Simplicity}}

==== New Complexity ====
[[New Complexity]] is a current within today's{{when|date=August 2020}} European contemporary avant-garde music scene, named in reaction to the New Simplicity.  Amongst the candidates suggested for having coined the term are the composer [[Nigel Osborne]], the Belgian musicologist [[Harry Halbreich]], and the British/Australian musicologist [[Richard Toop]], who gave currency to the concept of a movement with his article "Four Facets of the New Complexity".{{sfn|Toop|1988}}

Though often [[atonal]], highly abstract, and [[Consonance and dissonance|dissonant]] in sound, the "New Complexity" is most readily characterized by the use of techniques which require complex [[musical notation]]. This includes [[extended technique]]s, [[microtonality]], odd [[Musical tuning|tunings]], highly disjunct [[Melodic motion|melodic contour]], innovative [[timbre]]s, complex [[polyrhythms]], unconventional [[Instrumentation (music)|instrumentations]], abrupt changes in loudness and intensity, and so on.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Fox |first=Christopher |date=January 20, 2001 |title=New Complexity |url=https://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/grovemusic/display/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo-9781561592630-e-0000051676 |journal=Grove Music Online}}</ref> The diverse group of composers writing in this style includes [[Richard Barrett (composer)|Richard Barrett]], [[Brian Ferneyhough]], [[Claus-Steffen Mahnkopf]], [[James Dillon (composer)|James Dillon]], [[Michael Finnissy]], [[James Erber]], and [[Roger Redgate]].

==== Ambient music and its crossovers ====
Modern ambient music blends classical, electronic, and minimalism, driven by artists like [[Jon Hopkins]], [[Erland Cooper]], [[Max Richter]], [[Aphex Twin|Richard D. James]], [[Ludovico Einaudi]], [[Nils Frahm]], [[Ólafur Arnalds]], [[Lambert (pianist)|Lambert]], [[Joep Beving]], and [[Hania Rani]].<ref>{{cite web | url=https://headlinerhub.com/lambert-all-this-time-removing-mask-wanted-to-hide-my-past-as-jazz-musician.html | title=Lambert on All This Time and removing the mask: "I wanted to hide my past as a jazz musician" }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Fiddy |first=Hannah |date=2020-02-07 |title=Interview: Joep Beving |url=https://www.alternativeclassical.co.uk/interviews/joep-beving |access-date=2025-06-24 |website=Alternative Classical |language=en-GB}}</ref> Influenced by [[Brian Eno]] and [[Steve Reich]], this genre, sometimes called "neo-classical" or "indie classical", merges cinematic orchestration with electronic textures, appealing to a broader audience.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last=Reich |first=Megan |date=2018-05-22 |title=The Story of Minimalism – Part Two: From Minimal to Maximal |url=https://www.allclassical.org/the-story-of-minimalism-part-two-from-minimal-to-maximal/ |access-date=2025-06-24 |website=All Classical Radio |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Bulut |first=Selim |date=2013-11-01 |title=Just don't call it 'indie classical' |url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/musicblog/2013/nov/01/neo-classical-nils-frahm |access-date=2025-06-24 |work=The Guardian |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077}}</ref>

Labels like [[Erased Tapes Records]], [[New Amsterdam Records]], and [[FatCat Records|130701]] have played a key role in this movement, while BBC Radio 3 and BBC Radio 6 Music have promoted its popularity. Programs by Ólafur Arnalds and Mary Anne Hobbs highlight the fusion of ambient, classical, and experimental soundscapes.<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001d2bt | title=BBC Radio 3 - Ultimate Calm, Ólafur Arnalds: Series 1 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0000xfq | title=BBC Radio 6 Music - Slow Sunday, Slow Sunday: With Ólafur Arnalds }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b04dqbf8 | title=BBC Radio 3 - Saturday Classics, Mary Anne Hobbs, Episode 1 }}</ref>

== Developments by medium ==

=== Opera ===
{{Unreferenced section|date=September 2017}}
Notable composers of operas since 1975 include:
{{div col|colwidth=20em}}
*[[Michel van der Aa]]
*[[Mark Adamo]]
*[[John Adams (composer)|John Adams]]
*[[Thomas Adès]]
*[[Miguel del Águila]]
*[[Bruce Adolphe]]
*[[Robert Ashley]]
*[[Lera Auerbach]]
*[[Gerald Barry (composer)|Gerald Barry]]
*[[George Benjamin (composer)|George Benjamin]]
*[[Tim Benjamin (composer)|Tim Benjamin]]
*[[Luciano Berio]]
*[[Michael Berkeley]]
*[[Oscar Bianchi]]
*[[Harrison Birtwistle]]
*[[Antonio Braga]]
*[[Rudolf Brucci]]
*[[John Cage]]
*[[Roberto Carnevale]]
*[[Elliott Carter]]
*[[Daniel Catán]]
*[[Tom Cipullo]]
*[[Azio Corghi]]
*[[John Corigliano]]
*[[Michael Daugherty]]
*[[Peter Maxwell Davies]]
*[[Julius Eastman]]
*[[John Eaton (composer)|John Eaton]]
*[[Oscar Edelstein]]
*[[Marios Joannou Elia]]
*[[Péter Eötvös]]
*[[Mohammed Fairouz]]
*[[Brian Ferneyhough]]
*[[Lorenzo Ferrero]]
*Juan Carlos Figueiras
*[[Luca Francesconi]]
*[[Philip Glass]]
*[[Elliot Goldenthal]]
*[[Ricky Ian Gordon]]
*[[Airat Ichmouratov]]<ref>{{cite news |last1=Huss |first1=Christopher |title="L'homme qui rit": la poignante sincérité d'Airat Ichmouratov |url=https://www.ledevoir.com/culture/musique/792113/critique-classique-l-homme-qui-rit-la-poignante-sincerite-d-airat-ichmouratov |access-date=20 September 2023 |publisher=www.ledevoir.com |date=1 June 2023 |archive-date=1 June 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230601052235/https://www.ledevoir.com/culture/musique/792113/critique-classique-l-homme-qui-rit-la-poignante-sincerite-d-airat-ichmouratov |url-status=live }}</ref>
*[[Dae-Ho Eom]]<ref>{{Cite news |last1=장석용 |date=3 January 2024 |title=엄대호의 '영혼의 울림' 통한 예수의 수난과 죽음…탐욕에 빠진 인간에 대한 '구원의 음률' |url=https://www.g-enews.com/view.php?ud=202401020644438825e8b8a793f7_1&mobile=1 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://www.g-enews.com/gnpdflist.php?ct=946 |archive-date=3 January 2024 |access-date=13 January 2024 |website=g-enews.com |pages=14}}</ref>
*[[Daron Hagen]]
*[[Jake Heggie]]
*[[Hans Werner Henze]]
*[[Bern Herbolsheimer]]
*[[York Höller]]
*[[Giselher Klebe]]
*[[Helmut Lachenmann]]
*[[Lori Laitman]]
*[[André Laporte]]
*[[György Ligeti]]
*[[Liza Lim]]
*[[David T. Little]]
*[[Luca Lombardi (composer)|Luca Lombardi]]
*[[Missy Mazzoli]]
*[[Richard Meale]]
*[[Olivier Messiaen]]
*[[Robert Moran (composer)|Robert Moran]]
*[[Nico Muhly]]
*[[Olga Neuwirth]]
*[[Luigi Nono]]
*[[Per Nørgård]]
*[[Michael Nyman]]
*[[Michael Obst (composer)|Michael Obst]]
*[[Jocy de Oliveira]]
*[[Marcus Paus]]
*[[Henri Pousseur]]
*[[Kevin Puts]]
*[[Einojuhani Rautavaara]]
*[[Kaija Saariaho]]
*[[Aulis Sallinen]]
*[[Carol Sams]]
*[[David Sawer]]
*[[Howard Shore]]
*[[Louis Siciliano]]
*[[Karlheinz Stockhausen]]
*[[Somtow Sucharitkul]]
*[[Josef Tal]]
*[[Stefano Vagnini]]
*[[Claude Vivier]]
*[[Judith Weir]]
*[[Jörg Widmann]]
{{div col end}}

=== Cinema and television ===
Notable composers of post-1945 classical film and television scores include:<ref>Goldmark, Daniel. 2019. ''The Grove Music Guide to American Film Music''. Oxford University Press {{ISBN|0-19-063626-2}}</ref><ref>Craggs, Stewart R. 2020 ''Soundtracks. International Dictionary of Composers of Music for Film'' {{ISBN|978-1-138-36271-0}}</ref>

{{div col|colwidth=20em}}
*[[Michael Abels]]
*[[Masamichi Amano]]
*[[Craig Armstrong (composer)|Craig Armstrong]]
*[[John Barry (composer)|John Barry]]
*[[Elmer Bernstein]]
*[[Howard Blake]]
*[[Bruce Broughton]]
*[[Aaron Copland]]
*[[John Debney]]
*[[Alexandre Desplat]]
*[[Ramin Djawadi]]
*[[Richard Einhorn]]
*[[Danny Elfman]]
*[[Ludovico Einaudi]]
*[[Ilan Eshkeri]]
*[[Brad Fiedel]]
*[[Robert Folk]]
*[[Benjamin Frankel]]
*[[Takeshi Furukawa]]
*[[Michael Giacchino]]
*[[Mick Giacchino]]
*[[Ernest Gold (composer)|Ernest Gold]]
*[[Elliot Goldenthal]]
*[[Jerry Goldsmith]]
*[[Joel Goldsmith]]
*[[Bernard Herrmann]]
*[[Yoshihisa Hirano]]
*[[Joe Hisaishi]]
*[[James Horner]]
*[[Akira Ifukube]]
*[[Shin'ichirō Ikebe]]
*[[Henry Jackman]]
*[[Steve Jablonsky]]
*[[Maurice Jarre]]
*[[Michael Kamen]]
*[[Aram Khachaturian]]
*[[Wojciech Kilar]]
*[[Bear McCreary]]
*[[Ennio Morricone]]
*[[Alessio Miraglia]]
*[[David Newman (composer)|David Newman]]
*[[Alex North]]
*[[John Powell (film composer)|John Powell]]
*[[Riopy]]
*[[Leonard Rosenman]]
*[[Nino Rota]]
*[[Miklós Rózsa]]
*[[Alfred Schnittke]]
*[[Howard Shore]]
*[[Dmitri Shostakovich]]
*[[Alan Silvestri]]
*[[Lalo Schifrin]]
*[[Tōru Takemitsu]]
*[[Dimitri Tiomkin]]
*[[Brian Tyler]]
*[[Ralph Vaughan Williams]]
*[[William Walton]]
*[[Franz Waxman]]
*[[John Williams]]
*[[Hans Zimmer]]<ref name="zimmer">{{cite web |url=https://variety.com/2021/artisans/news/hans-zimmer-signs-caa-composer-1234980917/ |title=Oscar Winner Hans Zimmer Signs With CAA |last=Tangcay |first=Jazz |date=May 25, 2021 |website=Variety.com |publisher=Variety |access-date=October 26, 2021 |archive-date=October 26, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211026192806/https://variety.com/2021/artisans/news/hans-zimmer-signs-caa-composer-1234980917/ |url-status=live }} Proves notability.</ref>
{{div col end}}

Contemporary classical music originally written for the concert hall can also be heard on the music track of some films, such as Stanley Kubrick's ''[[2001: A Space Odyssey (film)|2001: A Space Odyssey]]'' (1968) and ''[[Eyes Wide Shut]]'' (1999), both of which used concert music by [[György Ligeti]], and also in Kubrick's ''[[The Shining (film)|The Shining]]'' (1980) which used music by both Ligeti and [[Krzysztof Penderecki]].<ref>{{cite magazine |url=https://www.newyorker.com/culture/goings-on/clarke-kubrick-and-ligeti-a-tale |title=Clarke, Kubrick, and Ligeti: A Tale |last=Platt |first=Russell |date=August 12, 2008 |magazine=The New Yorker |access-date=March 18, 2023 |archive-date=March 18, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230318180249/https://www.newyorker.com/culture/goings-on/clarke-kubrick-and-ligeti-a-tale |url-status=live }}</ref> [[Jean-Luc Godard]], in ''[[La Chinoise]]'' (1967), [[Nicolas Roeg]] in ''[[Walkabout (film)|Walkabout]]'' (1971), and the [[Brothers Quay]] in ''In Absentia'' (2000) used music by [[Karlheinz Stockhausen]].

=== Chamber ===
Some notable works for chamber orchestra:
* [[Composition for Twelve Instruments]] (1948, rev. 1954) – [[Milton Babbitt]]
* [[Concerto for seven wind instruments, timpani, percussion, and string orchestra]] (1949) – [[Frank Martin (composer)|Frank Martin]]
* [[Drei Lieder (Stockhausen)|Drei Lieder]] (1950) – [[Karlheinz Stockhausen]]
* ''[[Nummer 2]]'' (1951) – [[Karel Goeyvaerts]]
* ''[[Oiseaux exotiques]]'' (1956) – [[Olivier Messiaen]]
* ''Requiem'' for strings (1957) – [[Tōru Takemitsu]]
* ''[[Threnody to the Victims of Hiroshima]]'' (1960) – [[Krzysztof Penderecki]]
* [[Double Concerto (Carter)|Double Concerto]] for harpsichord and piano with two chamber orchestras (1961) – [[Elliott Carter]]
* ''[[Stop (Stockhausen)|Stop]]'' (1965) – Karlheinz Stockhausen
* Fantasia for Strings (1966) – [[Hans Werner Henze]]
* ''Ojikawa'' (1968) – [[Claude Vivier]]
* [[Concerto (Barraqué)|Concerto]] for clarinet and vibraphone with six instrumental formations (1968) – [[Jean Barraqué]]
* ''[[Ramifications (Ligeti)|Ramifications]]'' (1968–69) – [[György Ligeti]]
* ''[[Compases para preguntas ensimismadas]]'' (1970) – Hans Werner Henze
* ''[[Recital I (for Cathy)]]'' (1972) – [[Luciano Berio]]
* ''[[Trois airs pour un opéra imaginaire]]'' (1982) – [[Claude Vivier]]
* [[Guitar Concerto No. 2 (Hovhaness)|Guitar Concerto No. 2]] for guitar and strings (1985) – [[Alan Hovhaness]]
* ''Invocation'' for Oboe and Guitar (1993) – [[Apostolos Paraskevas]]
* ''[[Kol-Od]]'' (1996) – Luciano Berio
* ''[[Asko Concerto]]'' (2000) – Elliott Carter
* ''[[Dialogues (Carter)|Dialogues]]'' for piano and chamber orchestra (2003) – Elliott Carter
* ''[[Tierkreis (Stockhausen)|Fünf Sternzeichen]]'' (2004) – Karlheinz Stockhausen
* ''[[Tierkreis (Stockhausen)|Fünf weitere Sternzeichen]]'' (2007) – Karlheinz Stockhausen
* ''Diário das Narrativas Fantásticas'' (2019) – [[Caio Facó]]

=== Concert bands (wind ensembles) ===
{{Unreferenced section|date=September 2017}}
In recent years, many composers have composed for [[concert band]]s (also called wind ensembles). Notable composers include: 

{{div col|colwidth=20em}}
*[[James Barnes (composer)|James Barnes]]
*[[Leslie Bassett]] 
*[[David Bedford]] 
*[[Richard Rodney Bennett]]
*[[Warren Benson]]
*[[Steven Bryant (composer)|Steven Bryant]]
*[[Daniel Bukvich]]
*[[Mark Camphouse]]
*[[Michael Colgrass]]
*[[John Corigliano]] 
*[[Michael Daugherty]]
*[[David Del Tredici]]
*[[Thomas C. Duffy]] 
*[[Eric Ewazen]] 
*[[Gala Flagello]]
*[[Aldo Rafael Forte]]
*[[Michael Gandolfi]] 
*[[Rossano Galante]]
*[[David Gillingham]] 
*[[Julie Giroux]]
*[[Peter Graham (composer)|Peter Graham]] 
*[[Donald Grantham]] 
*[[Edward Gregson]] 
*[[John Harbison]] 
*[[Samuel Hazo]] 
*[[Kenneth Hesketh]]
*[[Karel Husa]] 
*[[Yasuhide Ito]]
*[[Scott Lindroth]]
*[[Scott McAllister]] 
*[[W. Francis McBeth]] 
*[[James MacMillan]] 
*[[Cindy McTee]] 
*[[David Maslanka]]
*[[Nicholas Maw]]
*[[John Mackey (composer)|John Mackey]] 
*[[Johan de Meij]]
*[[Olivier Messiaen]]
*[[Lior Navok]]
*[[Ron Nelson (composer)|Ron Nelson]]
*[[Carter Pann]]
*[[Vincent Persichetti]]
*{{Interlanguage link|Marco Pütz|nl}} 
*[[Alfred Reed]]
*[[Steven Reineke]]
*{{Interlanguage link|Rolf Rudin|nl}}
*[[Richard L. Saucedo]]
*[[Gunther Schuller]] 
*[[Joseph Schwantner]]
*[[Robert W. Smith (musician)|Robert W. Smith]]
*[[Philip Sparke]]
*[[Jack Stamp]] 
*[[James M. Stephenson]]
*[[Karlheinz Stockhausen]]
*[[Steven Stucky]]
*[[Frank Ticheli]]
*[[Michael Tippett]]
*[[Jan Van der Roost]]
*[[Dan Welcher]] 
*[[Eric Whitacre]]
*[[Dana Wilson (composer)|Dana Wilson]]
*[[Guy Woolfenden]]
*[[Charles Rochester Young]]
{{div col end}}

== Festivals ==
{{Unreferenced section|date=September 2017}}
{{Main|List of music festivals}}
{{See also|Category:Contemporary classical music festivals}}
The following is an incomplete list of contemporary-music festivals:
* [[Ars Musica]], Brussels, Belgium
* [[Bang on a Can|Bang on a Can Marathon]]
* [[Big Ears Festival]]
* [[Darmstädter Ferienkurse]]
* [[Donaueschingen Festival]]
* {{Interlanguage link|Festival Atempo|es}} in Caracas, Venezuela
* [[Gaudeamus Foundation]] Music Week in Amsterdam
* [[Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival]]
* [[Lucerne Festival]] in Switzerland
* [[MATA Festival]] in New York
* [[Music Biennale Zagreb]]
* [[Musica (French music festival)]]
* [[New Music Gathering]]
* [[November Music]] in 's Hertogenbosch (the Netherlands) 
* [[Other Minds (organization)|Other Minds]] in San Francisco
* [[Peninsula Arts Contemporary Music Festival]], [[Plymouth]]
* [[Warsaw Autumn]] in Poland
* [[George Enescu Festival]] in Romania
* [[Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music]] in Santa Cruz, California

==See also==
* [[List of contemporary classical ensembles]]

== Notes ==
{{Reflist|30em}}

=== Sources ===
{{div col|colwidth=45em}}
* {{cite journal|last=Anderson|first=Martin|date=June 1992|title=A Conversation with Kalevi Aho|journal=[[Tempo (journal)|Tempo]]|series=new series|number=181 (Scandinavian Issue)|pages=16–18|doi=10.1017/S0040298200015138 }}
* {{cite book|last=Bandur|first=Markus|year=2001|title=Aesthetics of Total Serialism: Contemporary Research from Music to Architecture|location=Basel, Boston, Berlin|publisher=Birkhäuser|isbn=3-7643-6449-1}}
* {{cite encyclopedia|last=Botstein|first=Leon|author-link=Leon Botstein|year=2001|title=Modernism|encyclopedia=[[The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians]]|edition=second|editor1=[[Stanley Sadie]]|editor2=[[John Tyrrell (musicologist)|John Tyrrell]]|location=London|publisher=Macmillan}}
* {{wikicite|ref={{harvid|Chatham|1994}}|reference=[[Rhys Chatham|Chatham, Rhys]]. 1994. "[http://www.rhyschatham.net/nintiesRCwebsite/Essay_1970-90.html Composer's Notebook 1990: Toward a Musical Agenda for the Nineties]", with "[http://www.rhyschatham.net/nintiesRCwebsite/Essay_1970-90.html#poss Postscript, Summer 1994]". [https://web.archive.org/web/20070708141543/http://www.rhyschatham.net/ Rhys Chatham website]. (Accessed 20 January 2010)}}
* {{cite journal|last=Colburn|first=Grant|author-link=Grant Colburn|date=Summer 2007|title=A New Baroque Revival|journal=Early Music America|volume=13|number=2|pages=36–45, 54–55}}
* {{cite book|last=Holmes|first=Thomas B.|year=2008|title=Electronic and Experimental Music: Pioneers in Technology and Composition|edition=3rd|location=London and New York|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-0-415-95781-6 }}
* {{cite encyclopedia|last=Johnson|first=Stephen|year=2001|title=MacMillan, James (Loy)|encyclopedia=[[The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians]]|edition=second|editor1=[[Stanley Sadie]]|editor2=[[John Tyrrell (musicologist)|John Tyrrell]]|location=London|publisher=Macmillan}}
* {{cite book|last=Manning|first=Peter|year=2004|title=Electronic and Computer Music|edition=revised and expanded|location=Oxford and New York|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=0-19-514484-8 }}
* {{cite book|last1=Schwartz|first1=Elliott|author1-link=Elliott Schwartz|last2=Godfrey|first2=Daniel|author2-link=Daniel Strong Godfrey|year=1993|title=Music Since 1945: Issues, Materials, and Literature|location=New York; Toronto|publisher=Schirmer; Maxwell Macmillan Canada|isbn=0-02-873040-2}}
* {{cite journal|last=Schwartz|first=Elliott|date=Summer 1994|title=European Journal, 1993|journal=[[Perspectives of New Music]]|volume=32|number=2|pages=292–299|doi=10.2307/833614 |jstor=833614 }}
* {{cite journal|last=Straus|first=Joseph. N.|date=Autumn 1999|title=The Myth of Serial 'Tyranny' in the 1950s and 1960s|journal=[[The Musical Quarterly]]|volume=83|number=3|pages=301–343|doi=10.1093/mq/83.3.301 }}
* {{cite journal|last=Toop|first=Richard|author-link=Richard Toop|date=March 1988|title=Four Facets of the 'New Complexity'|journal=Contact: A Journal for Contemporary Music|number=32|pages=4–8|doi=10.25602/GOLD.cj.v0i32.1284}}
* {{cite book|last=Watkins|first=Glenn|author-link=Glenn Watkins|year=1994|title=Pyramids at the Louvre: Music, Culture, and Collage from Stravinsky to the Postmodernists|location=Cambridge, Massachusetts|publisher=Belknap Press of Harvard University Press|isbn=0-674-74083-1}}
* {{cite encyclopedia|last=Whittall|first=Arnold|author-link=Arnold Whittall|title=Neo-Classicism|encyclopedia=[[Grove Music Online]]|year=2001|doi=10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.article.19723}} (Subscription access)
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== Further reading ==
{{div col|colwidth=45em}}
* Cardoso-Firmo, Ana. 2011. "La Cantatrice Chauve de Jean-Philippe Calvin". In ''Dramaturgies de l'Absurde en France et au Portugal'', {{Full citation needed|date=August 2014}}<!--Editor needed, if this is a collective work.-->, pp.&nbsp;199–203. Paris: Université de Paris 8.
* Chute, James. 2001. "Torke, Michael." ''[[The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians]]'', edited by [[Stanley Sadie]] and [[John Tyrrell (musicologist)|John Tyrrell]]. London: Macmillan.
* Cross, Jonathan. 2001. "Turnage, Mark-Anthony". ''[[The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians]]'', second edition, edited by [[Stanley Sadie]] and [[John Tyrrell (musicologist)|John Tyrrell]]. London: Macmillan.
* [[Hermann Danuser|Danuser, Hermann]]. 1984. ''Die Musik des 20. Jahrhunderts: mit 108 Notenbeispielen, 130 Abbildungen und 2 Farbtafeln''. Neues Handbuch der Musikwissenschaft 7. Laaber: Laaber-Verlag. {{ISBN|3-89007-037-X}}
* {{ill|Ulrich Dibelius|de|lt=Dibelius, Ulrich}}. 1998. ''Moderne Musik Nach 1945''. Munich: Piper Verlag. {{ISBN|3-492-04037-3}} (pbk.)
* [[Paul Du Noyer|Du Noyer, Paul]] (ed.) (2003), "Contemporary" in ''The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Music''. London: Flame Tree, {{ISBN|1-904041-70-1}}
* [[William Duckworth (composer)|Duckworth, William]]. 1995. ''Talking Music: Conversations with John Cage, Philip Glass, Laurie Anderson, and Five Generations of American Experimental Composers''. New York: Schirmer Books; London: Prentice-Hall International. {{ISBN|0-02-870823-7}} Reprinted 1999, New York: Da Capo Press. {{ISBN|0-306-80893-5}}
* [[Dufallo, Richard]]. 1989. ''Trackings: Composers Speak with Richard Dufallo''. New York: Oxford University Press. {{ISBN| 0-19-505816-X}}
* Gagne, Cole. 1990. ''[https://nicolevgagne.com/music-books-sonic-transports/ Sonic Transports: New Frontiers in Our Music]''. New York: de Falco Books. {{ISBN| 0-9625145-0-0}}
* Gagne, Cole. 1993. ''Soundpieces 2: Interviews with American Composers''. Metuchen, New Jersey: The Scarecrow Press. {{ISBN| 0-8108-2710-7}}
* Gagne, Cole and Tracy Caras. 1982. ''Soundpieces: Interviews with American Composers''. Metuchen, New Jersey: Scarecrow Press. {{ISBN| 0-8108-1474-9}}
* Gagne, Nicole V. 2019.  ''Historical Dictionary of Modern and Contemporary Classical Music'', second edition. Lanham, Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield. {{ISBN| 9781538122976}}
* [[Kyle Gann|Gann, Kyle]]. 1997. ''American Music in the Twentieth Century''. New York: Schirmer Books; London: Prentice Hall International. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth/Thomson Learning {{ISBN|0-02-864655-X}}.
* [[Paul Griffiths (writer)|Griffiths, Paul]]. 1995. ''Modern Music And After: Directions Since 1945''. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press. {{ISBN|0-19-816578-1}} (cloth) {{ISBN|0-19-816511-0}} (pbk.) Rev. ed. of: ''Modern Music: The Avant Garde Since 1945'' (1981)
* [[Alvin Lucier| Lucier, Alvin]], ed. 2018. ''Eight Lectures on Experimental Music''. Middletown, Connecticut: Wesleyan University Press. {{ISBN| 9780819577634}}
* Morgan, Robert P. 1991. ''Twentieth-century Music: A History of Musical Style in Modern Europe and America''. New York: Norton. {{ISBN|0-393-95272-X}}
* ''New Music: Music since 1950''. 1978. Vienna: Universal Edition. ''N.B''.: Biography-bibliography dictionary. Without ISBN
* [[Nyman, Michael]]. 1999. ''Experimental Music: Cage and Beyond''. Second edition. Music in the 20th century. Cambridge University Press. {{ISBN|0-521-65297-9}} {{ISBN|0-521-65383-5}} (pbk.)
* [[Rockwell, John]]. 1984. ''All American Music''. New York: Vintage Books. {{ISBN| 0-394-72246-9}} (pbk)
* [[Elliott Schwartz|Schwartz, Elliott]], and [[Barney Childs]] (eds.), with [[Jim Fox (composer)| Jim Fox]]. 1998. ''Contemporary Composers on Contemporary Music''. Expanded edition. New York: Da Capo Press. {{ISBN|0-306-80819-6}}
* [[Reginald Smith Brindle|Smith Brindle, Reginald]]. 1987. ''The New Music: The Avant-Garde since 1945''. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press. {{ISBN|0-19-315471-4}} (cloth) {{ISBN|0-19-315468-4}} (pbk.)
* [[Arnold Whittall|Whittall, Arnold]]. 1999. ''Musical Composition in the Twentieth Century''. New York: Oxford University Press. {{ISBN|0-19-816684-2}} (cloth) {{ISBN|0-19-816683-4}} (pbk.)
* Whittall, Arnold. 2003. ''Exploring Twentieth-Century Music: Tradition and Innovation''. Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press. {{ISBN|0-521-81642-4}} (cloth) {{ISBN|0-521-01668-1}} (pbk)
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== External links ==
{{Commons category|Contemporary classical music}}
* [http://bachtrack.com/period/contemporary "Guide to contemporary music"], [[Bachtrack]]

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[[Category:Contemporary classical music| ]]