Era: Contemporary

Contemporary English

NYMAN, Michael

Born in London, March 23, 1944

Composer Website

Nyman’s music often employs experimental techniques, like aleatoric procedures and postmodern quotation or sampling from historic compositions.
Later in his career Nyman’s music became lyrical and more influenced by folk music.
Fun fact: As writer on music, Nyman was one of the first people to use the term “minimal” for the music we now describe as “minimalist.”
Nyman has composed scores for a number of films, including Gattaca (1997) and The Libertine (2004). ¹

Pieces

Drowning by Numbers: “Trysting Fields”

Contemporary American British

O’REGAN, Tarik

Photo by Marion Ettlinger; courtesy of composer's website

Born in London, 1978

Tarik O’Regan is a San Francisco-based composer whose music is shaped by his Arab and Irish backgrounds.
O’Regan has written works for orchestra, choir, stage, and chamber ensemble. His music has been recorded on over 47 albums so far.
O’Regan was commissioned to write an Agnus Dei for the coronation of King Charles III, which was performed during the taking of Communion during the ceremony.
Fun fact – O’Regan also has experience in broadcasting. He wrote and presented numerous documentaries, including Composing LA and Composing New York for BBC Radio.

Learn More
Composer’s website

Pieces

Contemporary American

O’CONNOR, Mark

Mark O'Connor on stage at the Cambridge Folk Festival, July 1985. Photograph by Tony Rees.

Composer Website

Born in Seattle, Washington, August 5, 1961

Mark O’Connor was born in Seattle and now resides in North Carolina.
O’Connor has won 3 Grammy awards and 7 CMA awards.
O’Connor performs regularly with the Mark O’Connor Band, in which he is joined by his wife, son and daughter-in-law, all musicians.
Works by O’Connor include his Fiddle Concerto (the most-performed violin concerto among those composed in the last 50 years) and his Americana Symphony.²

Pieces

Appalachia Waltz

Contemporary Japanese

OE, Hikari

Born June 13, 1963

Name pronunciation: hee-KAH-ree oh-EH

Hikari Ōe is a contemporary Japanese composer. He is the son of Nobel laureate novelist Kenzaburo Ōe.
Hikari Ōe has autism, and a developmental disability which impedes his language and physical coordination skills, due to a severe brain hernia. However, around the age of 6 he displayed a strong recall of music and sound, starting with the ability to memorize birdsong. He has been composing original music since the age of 13.
Hikari Ōe’s first album of compositions was released in 1992, and his second in 1994. His albums have been proven very popular both in Japan and abroad.
Ōe’s compositions are influenced by the music of Mozart, Chopin, and Brahms.³

Pieces

Contemporary Icelandic

OLAFS, Gabriel

Photo by Vidar Logi; courtesy of grainsmusic.com

Born in Reykjavík, Dec 3, 1998

Gabríel Ólafs [pronounced gah-bree-EL OH-lahfs] displayed musical talent from an early age, beginning with his introduction to the piano at age 5. Ólafs was classically trained but felt restricted within one genre, thereby identifying as a crossover artist from early on in his career. He was particularly drawn towards the improvisation of jazz and other alternative genres.
Ólafs released his debut album, Absent Minded, at just 20 years old.⁴
In 2022, Ólafs co-founded the Reykjavík Orkestra, the country’s first dedicated orchestra for studio recordings. So far, the orchestra has recorded music for Netflix, Apple TV, and Deutsche Grammophon.⁵
From the composer’s website:
- “Gabríel’s melodic musical storytelling and holistic creative vision set him apart as a true auteur of postmodern classical music. His work draws inspiration from Nordic folk traditions, poetry, and film.”

Learn More
Composer’s website

Pieces

Staircase Sonata

Contemporary Estonian

PÄRT, Arvo

Born in Paide, Sept 11, 1935

Pärt’s music is known for the influence of early music, expressions of faith, and a gently dissonant style he calls tintinnabuli, in which a melody is built around repeating tonal triads, creating a diatonic dissonance that resembles the ringing of bells.
Pärt and his family relocated to Berlin after 1980, because the overtly religious and seeming archaic/simplistic style of his music met with disapproval from Soviet authorities and academics.⁶

Biography from the Arvo Pärt Centre

Pieces

Contemporary

PICKER, Tobias

Born in New York, July 18, 1954

Composer website

Picker studied composition with Milton Babbit and Elliot Carter.
According to Picker himself, his music is influenced by both Brahms and Stravinsky, and a desire to meld the styles of both.
Fun Fact: When he was 18, Picker began working as an improvisatory accompanist for the Martha Graham School of Contemporary Dance.⁷

Pieces

Old and Lost Rivers

Contemporary American

PINE, Rachel Barton

Rachel Barton Pine, performing at the Phillips Collection in Washington D.C. in 2011.

Composer website

Born in Chicago, IL, Oct 11, 1974

Pine is an American violinist. She was the first American (and youngest person) to win the J.S. Bach International Violin Competition in Leipzig.
Pine creates her own cadenzas when playing classical violin concertos.⁸

Pieces

Medley of Scots Tunes

Contemporary Italian

PIOVANI, Nicola

Born in Rome, May 26, 1946

Piovani is a film composer who has written several scores for Fellini.
Piovani has also composed chamber music, a musical and a ballet.⁹

Short biography

Pieces

Buongiorno principessa (for cello and strings)

Contemporary Argentinian

PUJOL, Máximo Diego

Image courtesy of the composer's website

Born in Buenos Aires, Dec 7, 1957

Argentinian composer and guitarist Máximo Diego Pujol received his formal training at the Buenos Aires Conservatory of Music. The composer supported his training by playing tango and milongas at local nightclubs.
As a composer, Pujol strives for “an ever-closer fusion of traditional Argentine Tango and formal academic concepts.¹⁰

Composer’s website

Pieces

Suite mágica

20th Century Contemporary Finnish

RAUTAVAARA, Einojuhani

Born in Helsinki, 9 Oct, 1928
Died in Helsinki, 27 July, 2016

[PRONUNCIATION / AY-no-yu-hah-ni ROW-ta-vah-ra]

Einojuhani Rautavaara began studying music in his teens, earning a place Helsinki University for musicology and the Sibelius Academy for composition.
- In 1955, Jean Sibelius selected Rautavaara for a scholarship to study in the United States. Rautavaara spent two years studying with Vincent Persichetti at Juilliard. He also took part in the summer courses at Tanglewood given by Roger Sessions and Aaron Copland.¹¹
As a composer, Rautavaara cycled through several styles throughout his long career. In the 1950s, his music is most often characterized by neoclassical elements, while the 60s brought a shift toward the avant-garde and experiments in 12-tone techniques. In the 70s, the composer embraced Romanticism, ultimately reaching his final “mystical” phase with music featuring angels.¹²
Rautavaara was quite prolific, writing eight symphonies, nine operas, 12 instrumental (and one choral) concertos, chamber music, choral music, and vocal works.¹³

Learn More
Short biography

Pieces

Contemporary British

RICHTER, Max

Max Richter, photographed in 2015.

Born in 1966

Composer website

Richter was born in Germany but raised in England. He was classically trained at the RAM and studied with Luciano Berio. Richter has also collaborated with artists in the genre of electronic music.
Richter’s musical style contains elements of the classical tradition (drawing from many periods) and electronic, experimental, minimalist and rock influences.¹
Richter has released 11 solo albums for Deutsche Grammophon and has composed the scores for many films, including Ad Astra, Mary, Queen of Scots and Sarah’s Key. He has also composed several ballets, an opera, and worked on multimedia artistic collaborations.²

Sources

“Max Richter: Biography,” Deutsche Grammophon (2018), accessed January 7, 2020, https://www.deutschegrammophon.com/us/artist/richter/biography.
“Max Richter: Music,” MaxRichterMusic.com, accessed January 7, 2020, https://maxrichtermusic.com/blogs/studio-albums.

Pieces

On the Nature of Daylight

Pieces

On the Nature of Daylight

Contemporary American

RUNESTAD, Jake

Born in Rockford, IL, 1986

Jake Runestad [RUN-uh-stehd] is an EMMY-winning and GRAMMY-nominated composer and conductor currently based in Minneapolis, MN.
- Runestad won the EMMY award for musical composition for “Earth Symphony” in 2022.
As a composer, Runestad has written music for choir, stage (opera), orchestra, and wind ensemble. His music is “socially conscious and explores authentic human emotions and experiences.”¹⁴

Learn More
Composer’s website

Pieces

Earth Symphony

Contemporary English

RUTTER, John

John Rutter, photograph by VocalEssence

Born in London, Sept 24, 1945

Composer website

In addition to his remarkably successful career as a composer of choral music, Rutter has also served as director of music at Clare College, Cambridge, founder-director of The Cambridge Singers, and an editor of choral music.¹⁵

Pieces

Contemporary Colombian

SABOYA, Lucas

Photograph of Lucas Saboya courtesy of the Orquesta Filarmónica di Bogotá

Born in 1980 in Tunja, Boyacá

Saboya studied music at the Escuela Superior de Música in Tunja, Boyacá.
Saboya teaches at the Colombian University of Pedagogy and Technology.¹⁶

Biography (in Spanish) from the Orquesta Filarmónica di Bogotá

Short biography from Naxos

Composer’s YouTube channel

Pieces

Suite Ernestina

Contemporary Chilean

SALINAS, Horacio

Image courtesy of the composer's Facebook page

Born in Lautaro, Chile, July 8, 1951

Short biography

Pieces

Contemporary South African

SELAOCOE, Abel

Photo by Michael Zamora for NPR

Born in Sebokeng, South Africa, 5 March 1992

Abel Selaocoe (“AY-bull sil-OW-cho-ay“) is a genre-pushing cellist and composer who has made a name for himself combining virtuosic cello and vocal performance with improvisation.
Growing up in South Africa, Selaocoe received his first instruction on the cello at the African Cultural Organization of South Africa (ACOSA), an outreach program that provided one of the only opportunities for disadvantaged kids to access classical music. He went on to earn a scholarship at St. John’s College, followed by the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester (UK).
As a composer, Selaocoe is dedicated to interweaving Western and non-Western musical traditions.¹
- In an interview, Selaocoe said:
  - “My goal in my musical life is to take this instrument that I’ve learned from a very young age in a classical manner and connect it to where I’m from, allowing the culture of a stringed instrument like the cello or violin to evolve as it visits different cultural spaces.”²

Learn More
Composer’s website

Sources

https://www.abelselaocoe.com/, accessed March 10, 2025.
Kyle MacMillan, “South African cellist Abel Selaocoe makes his CSO debut at Ravinia,” Chicago Symphony Orchestra (2024), accessed March 10, 2025, https://cso.org/experience/article/19261/south-african-cellist-abel-selaocoe-makes-his.

Pieces

Contemporary American Chinese

SHENG, Bright

Composer Website

Born in Shanghai, Dec 6, 1955

Sheng was educated at the Shanghai Conservatory, Queens College CUNY, and and Columbia University. Leonard Bernstein was one of his teachers.
Sheng has served as Composer in Residence for Lyric Opera of Chicago and Seattle SO, and he teaches at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.
China’s Cultural Revolution took place before Sheng had the chance to attend conservatory. During that time, from the age of 15, he was assigned to work in a traditional Chinese orchestra in a province bordering Tibet. He also spent this time studying Chinese folk music.¹⁷

Pieces

Black Swan (after Brahms’s Intermezzo No. 2)

Contemporary Ukrainian

SILVESTROV, Valentin

Photo by Roberto Massotti, courtesy of ECM Records

Full name, alternate transliteration: Valentyn Vasil′yovych Sil′vestrov

Born in Kiev, Sept 30, 1937

Silvestrov studied at the Kiev Institute of Construction Engineering before enrolling at the Kiev Conservatory (1958–64) to study harmony and counterpoint.
In his article for Grove on Silvestrov, Virko Baley discusses the conflict between avant-garde and tradition as a major theme in Silvestrov’s work. Some compositions integrate these two impulses; at other times, he explores one or the other in a single work or period. Thus, he music can range in style from neoclassicism to minimalism to atonality.¹⁸

March 30, 2022 NYT article about Silvestrov’s status as a refugee from the current war in Ukraine

Biography from ECM Records

Biography from Schott Music

Pieces

Contemporary American

SIMON, Carlos

Photo by Kendall Bessent; courtesy of the composer’s website

Born in Washington, D.C., 1986

As a composer, Simon’s work ranges from concert music for large and small ensembles to film scores with influences of jazz, gospel, and neo-romanticism.
As of early 2025, Simon is currently the Composer-in-Residence for the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, the inaugural Boston Symphony Orchestra Composer Chair, and was nominated for a 2023 GRAMMY award for his album Requiem for the Enslaved. He is also an associate professor at Georgetown University.
In 2021, Simon received the 2021 Sphinx Medal of Excellence, the highest honor bestowed by the Sphinx Organization to recognize extraordinary classical Black and Latinx musicians.¹⁹

Learn More
Composer’s Website

Pieces

Contemporary Austrian Iranian

SOLTANI, Kian

Image courtesy of composer's website

Born in Bregenz, Austria, 1992

[KEE-ahn SOL-tah-nee]

Kian Soltani is an Austrian-Iranian cellist and composer. He was born to a family of Persian musicians and began studying the cello at just four years old.
Soltani was invited to join the Basel Music Academy at age 12. In 2014, he won the Anne-Sophie Mutter Foundation scholarship and completed his musical studies at the Kronberg Academy in Germany and the International Music Academy in Liechtenstein.
Soltani is known first and foremost as a cellist, performing with such renowned ensembles as the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich, Staatskapelle Berlin, Munich Philharmonic, Wiener Symphoniker, Netherlands Radio Philharmonic, Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Toronto Symphony Orchestra, NHK Symphony Orchestra, and Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia.
In 2023, Soltani was appointed to the faculty of Vienna’s University of Music and Performing Arts.²⁰
For fun – Soltani’s Tiny Desk Concert

Learn More
Composer’s website

Pieces

20th Century Contemporary American

SONDHEIM, Stephen

Born in New York, NY, Mar 22, 1930
Died in Roxbury, CT, Nov 26, 2021

Stephen Sondheim was a groundbreaking musical theater composer and lyricist.
Sondheim showed an inclination for music at an early age. By 15, he had already written his first musical. As a teenager, Sondheim studied with family friend Oscar Hammerstein, and in his early 20s, he studied with composer Milton Babbitt.
Sondheim’s first Broadway success was as the lyricist for Leonard Bernstein’s West Side Story (1957), followed by Jule Styne’s Gypsy (1959).
- Sondheim’s first success as both composer and lyricist was A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (1962).²¹
Sondheim is considered to be among the most significant American composers of all time, particularly for his redefining the musical theater genre into a serious art form that explore the human condition and provide meaningful social commentary.

Learn More
Biography and chronology via Portland Center Stage

Pieces

Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street

Contemporary Ukrainian

STANKOVYCH, Yevhen Fedorovych

Image courtesy of the composer's website

Born in Svaliava, Zakarpattya region, Ukraine, Sept 19, 1942

“Stankovych’s music, marked by a strikingly dramatic temperament and unfettered emotion, is supported by a full command of modernist techniques without allowing any one of these to predominate; and while the style is definably one of the late 20th century, folk themes of Ukraine’s various cultural groups have paramount importance in the substance of his language.”
Oxford Music Online²²

Stankovych studied at the Kyiv Conservatory under Borys Lyatoshynsky and Myroslav Skoryk, graduating in 1970.
His compositional output consists primarily of music for orchestra, choir, chamber ensemble, and stage (ballet and opera).²³
The recipient of many awards and accolades, Stankovych was recognized by UNESCO’s World Tribune as one of 10 best works of 1985 for his Chamber Symphony No. 3, and he won the Taras Shevchenko State Award in 1986.²⁴
Many of the composer’s larger works were written in response to tragic events in Ukraine’s history. For example, Dictum (1987) is a massive symphony commemorating the Chernobyl disaster.²⁵

Learn More

Composer’s website

Pieces

Violin Concerto No. 2

Contemporary Japanese

SUMINO, Hayato

Photo courtesy of Sheldon Artists

Born in Tokyo, July 14, 1995

Pronunciation: Ha-YAH-to SOO-mee-no

Hayato Sumino is a pianist and composer whose musical style defies genre boundaries, blending classical techniques, innovative arrangements, and improvisation.
- Sumino performs his own music under the name “Cateen” and has an astonishingly large following on YouTube (over 1.5 million followers as of June 2026).
Fun fact: Sumino earned a Master’s Degree in Engineering from the University of Tokyo, where he specialized in science, engineering, and music information processing. He earned the institution’s President’s Award for exceptional dual achievements in academics and music.
Born in Tokyo, Sumino is currently based in NewYork.

Learn More
Biography via composer’s website

Pieces

Contemporary American Czech

SVOBODA, Tomas

Image courtesy of the composer's website

Born in Paris, Dec 6, 1939
Died in Portland, OR, Nov 17, 2022

Biography
Composer’s website

Pieces

Contemporary American

SZYMKO, Joan

Image courtesy of the composer's website.

Szymko is pronounced “SHIM-koh” (IPA: [ʃɪmko]

Born in Chicago in 1957

Szymko is a Portland-based choral composer and conductor.
Szymko studied choral music education at the University of Illinois Urbana and composition at the University of Washington.
Szymko became Artistic Director of Portland’s Aurora Chorus in 1993 and served in that position for 26 seasons. She recently retired from the position and is now Artistic Director Emerita.
Szymko’s choral music has been commissioned by many ensembles within and outside of Portland, and has been published by Oxford University Press, earthsongs, and many other publishers.²⁶

Joan Szymko’s website

Pieces

Illumina le tenebrae

Contemporary American Japanese

TAKEUCHI, Marika

Photograph of Marika Takeuchi courtesy of the Alliance for Women Film Composers

Born March 14, 1987 in Kawasaki, Japan

Takeuchi is a composer of concert music, film music, and music for video games. She is currently based in Los Angeles.
Takeuchi studied film scoring at the Berklee College of Music in Massachusetts.²⁷

The composer’s website

Takeuchi’s profile with the Alliance for Women Film Composers

Pieces

Bloom

Contemporary Ugandan

TAMUSUZA, Justinian

Image courtesy of Crossing Borders Music.

Born in 1951 Kibisi, Uganda

Tamusuza began his musical training studying Kigandan traditional music: “singing, playing drums and tube-fiddle, endingidi.”²⁸
Tamusuza studied at Queens University in Belfast,²⁹ and completed a doctorate in composition at Northwestern University.³⁰
Tamusuza has taught at Makerere University in Kampala, Uganda³¹ and at Northwestern University.³²

Biography from International Opus

Biographical article from Vermont Public Radio

Pieces

First Movement from “On the Way of the Cross,” for String Quartet

Contemporary Japanese

TANAKA, Karen

Photograph of Karen Tanaka courtesy of the photographer, Murasakinoue2000,

Born in Tokyo, Japan, April 7, 1961

Tanaka studied at the Tōhō Gakuen School of Music, Toyko, where her teachers included Akira Miyoshi. She studied subsequently in France and in Florence, where her teachers included Luciano Berio.³⁰
Karen Tanaka currently teaches Composition and Experimental Sound Practices at the California Institute of the Arts in Valencia, California.³¹

Composer profile from her publisher, Wise Music Classical

Pieces

Contemporary American

TATE, Jerod Impichchaachaaha’

Photo by Shevaun Williams; courtesy of the composer's website

Born in Norman, OK, July 25, 1968

Jerod Impichchaachaaha’ [Im-pih-CHAH-chah-ha] Tate (Chickasaw) is an American composer and pianist.
- Tate’s middle name, Impichchaachaaha’, means “their high corncrib” and is his inherited traditional Chickasaw house name. A corncrib is a small hut used for the storage of corn and other vegetables. In traditional Chickasaw culture, the corncrib was built high off the ground on stilts to keep its contents safe from foraging animals.
Beginning his professional studies as a pianist, Tate earned his Bachelor of Music in Piano Performance from Northwestern University and his Master of Music in Piano Performance and Composition from The Cleveland Institute of Music.
Blending stories with music, Tate’s Native culture deeply influences his compositions for symphony, ballet, and opera.
- In addition to works based on his own Chickasaw culture, Tate has also written works based on the music and languages of several other tribes, including Choctaw, Navajo, Ojibway, Creek, Lakota, Hopi, Salish/Kootenai, and more.
In 2021, Tate was appointed a Cultural Ambassador for the U.S. Dept of State, and in 2025, Tate won the Wise-Hinrichsen Award in Music from the American Academy of Arts and Letters.³²

Learn More
Composer’s website

Pieces

Abokkoli’ Taloowa’ (Woodland Songs)

Contemporary American

TIN, Christopher

Photo by Andy Wilkinson; courtesy of the composer's website

Born in California, 1976

Christopher Tin is a GRAMMY Award-winning composer of both concert and media music.
Tin attended Stanford University and the Royal College of Music with studies in composition and English Literature.
- Fun fact: Simultaneously with his admission to RCM, Tin received the first Fulbright grant given for film scoring.
In 2000, Tin became an intern for Hans Zimmer, writing music for television commercials and for a wide range of television stations, including PBS, the History Channel, and the Discovery Channel.
Tin’s breakout hit was “Baba Yetu” (2005), a choral work for the video game Civilization IV.
- Additional fun fact: “Baba Yetu” was the first piece for video game to be both nominated and win a GRAMMY award.³³

Learn More
Composer’s website

Pieces

Waloyo Yamoni (We Overcome the Wind)

Contemporary American

TORKE, Michael

Image courtesy of the composer's website

Born in Milwaukee, WI, Sept 22, 1961

Biography
Composer’s website

Pieces

Javelin

20th Century Contemporary American

TOWER, Joan

Portrait of Joan Tower by Bernard Mindich, courtesy of Wise Music Classical.

Born in New Rochelle, NY, Sept 6, 1938

Tower studied composition at Bennington College and Columbia University. She has taught at Bard College since 1972.³⁴
Tower’s early works were serialist (influences included Milton Babbit), but since 1976 her work has moved in a more tonal direction.³⁵
Major honors include a Guggenheim Fellowship (1977), acknowledgement at the 2009 Kennedy Center Gala for Women in the Arts,³⁶ and a Grammy award for her one-movement symphonic work Made in America (2008).³⁷

Faculty biography from Bard College

Biography from Wise Music Classical

Pieces

Contemporary American

TURRIN, Joseph

Image courtesy of Discogs, https://www.discogs.com/artist/2190264-Joseph-Turrin

Born in Clifton, NJ, January 4th, 1947

Joseph Turrin is an American composer, orchestrator, conductor, pianist, and teacher.
As a composer, Turrin’s work spans multiple genres, including orchestral works, chamber music, and music for film and stage.³⁵

Biography
Composer’s website

Pieces

Illuminations

Contemporary Japanese

UÉBAYASHI, Yuko

Born in Kyoto, 1958

Yuko Uébayashi is a Japanese-born composer who has lived in France since 1998.
Biography from RII’s Elevate album:
- Japanese-born composer Yuko Uébayashi grew up emersed in music. She began composing as a young child and emerged into the professional sphere while still a teenager. Throughout early adulthood, Uébayashi built a career in Kyoto as a freelance composer and arranged music for film scores. In 1998, she followed her musical inspiration to Paris, where she would spend the next 20 years actively writing new works. In 2018, Uébayashi left the French capital and relocated to the South of France.
  
  When creating her pieces, the composer often starts with someone specifically in mind, drawing inspiration from the artistry of fellow prominent musicians. In fact, Uébayashi only accepts commissions from people with whom she feels a distinct connection. Stylistically, Uébayashi’s music is often described as impressionistic while also evoking Japanese film music.

Pieces

Sonata for Flute and Piano

Contemporary American Cambodian

UNG, Chinary

Photo courtesy of UC San Diego

Born in Takeo, Nov 24, 1942

Chinary Ung is an American composer of Cambodian descent. Ung was first exposed to Western classical music in his late teens, after which he pursued pursued the art form formally.
- Ung was one of the first graduates of the Ecole de Musique, Phnom Penh and received a degree in clarinet performance.
In 1964, Ung emigrated to the U.S. He received a DMA with distinction from Columbia University (1974), where his principal composition teacher was Chou Wen-chung.
Regarding his music, Ung has described it in the following way: “If East is yellow, and West is blue, then my music is green.” His compositions blend Asian aesthetics with contemporary classical techniques.³⁶

Learn More
Biography via the composer’s website

Pieces

Water Rings

Contemporary American

UNGAR, Jay

Jay Ungar and Molly Mason; photo courtesy of the composer's website

Born in The Bronx, New York on Nov. 14, 1946

Jay Ungar is a folk musician and composer best known for his original work, Ashokan Farewell, which was used as the theme song for the Ken Burns docuseries, The Civil War.

Pieces

Ashokan Farewell

Pieces

Ashokan Farewell

Contemporary Iranian

VALI, Reza

Image courtesy of composer's website

Born in Ghazvin, Iran, 1952

[reh-ZAH vah-LEE]

Reza Vali began his musical training at the Conservatory of Music in Tehran, followed by studies in education and composition at the Academy of Music in Vienna.
In 1985, Vali moved to the U.S. to pursue his Ph.D. in music theory and composition at the University of Pittsburgh.
As an educator, Vali has been on the faculty of the School of Music at Carnegie Mellon University since 1988.
As a composer, Vali’s works have been performed by the Pittsburgh Symphony, the Seattle Symphony, the Boston Modern Orchestra Project, the Baltimore Symphony, and the Memphis Symphony Orchestra, among others. His oeuvre consists of works for orchestra, chamber ensemble, and voice.³⁸

Learn More
Composer’s website

Pieces

Persian Folk Songs, Set No. 16 C

Contemporary Latvian

VASKS, Pēteris

Born in Aizpute, Apr 16, 1946³⁹

Biography

Pronunciation:
[petɛɾɪs vɑsks]
“PAY-ter-iss VAHSKS”
Listen

Pieces

Baltā ainava (White Scenery)

Contemporary British

WALLEN, Errollyn

Photo by Azzurra Primavera; courtesy of The Guardian

Born in Belize, 10 April 1958

Errollyn Wallen CBE is a prolific British composer whose works have been performed at the BBC Proms, the 2012 Paralympic Games, and the jubilees of Queen Elizabeth II.
- *CBE stands for Commander of the British Empire.⁴⁰
As an emerging composer in the 1980s, Wallen struggled with breaking down barriers to women in the field, especially women of color. Consequently, she co-founded, along with other female composers, musicians and administrators, the organization, “Women in Music,” promoting works by underrepresented voices in the field.⁴¹
In August 2024, Wallen was appointed Master of the King’s Music (the first Black woman to do so).
As a composer, Wallen has written over 20 operas and a large catalogue of orchestral, chamber, and vocal works.⁴²

Learn More
Composer’s website

Pieces

Mighty River