Contemporary

Contemporary music is perhaps the most fascinating and dynamic part of the repertoire. The multiplicity of compositional styles is breathtaking with composers, at the dawn of the new millenium, being able to draw on over a thousand years of music at the dawn for inspiration. There are broadly two approaches, those who write in an accessible style and those who are still keen to pursue the experimentalism of the previous century, although they can, and do, overlap. Composers such as John Adams, Arvo Part and John Tavener, who write strongly tonal music, find resonances with audiences who do not normally listen to classical music. Sofia Gubaidulina, Krzysztof Penderecki and Charles Wuorinen, avant-gardists from the 20^th century are continuing to compose in the 21^st. The explosion of new media has also enabled composers and musicians to find new methods and outlets for their expression through the development of the digital download, ‘virtual’ orchestras and online live concert streaming.

Key Composers: Adams, Ades, Birtwistle, Boulez, Daugherty, Del Tredici, Dun, Glass, Gorecki, Guidbaidulina, Henze, Kancheli, Part, Penderecki, Rautavaara, Reich, Rihm, Riley, Rouse, Rutter, Sheng, Sculthorpe, Silvestrov, Tavener, Tormis, Tower, Weir.