Kurt Julian Weill was a German composer, active from the 1920s, and in his later years in the United States. He was a leading composer for the stage who was best known for his fruitful collaborations with Bertolt Brecht. With Brecht, he dev...

Dmitri Dmitriyevich Shostakovich was a Soviet composer and pianist, and a prominent figure of 20th-century music. Shostakovich achieved fame in the Soviet Union under the patronage of Soviet chief of staff Mikhail Tukhachevsky, but later...

Olivier Messiaen was a French composer, organist and ornithologist, widely regarded as one of the major composers of the 20th century. His music is rhythmically complex (he was interested in rhythms from ancient Greek and from Hindu sources...

John Milton Cage was an American experimental music composer, writer and visual artist. He is most widely known for his 1952 composition 4'33", whose three movements are performed without playing a single note. Cage was an early composer of...

Leonard Bernstein was an American composer, conductor, author, music lecturer, and pianist. He was among the first conductors born and educated in the US to receive worldwide acclaim. According to music critic Donal Henahan, he was "one of...

Simeon ten Holt is a Dutch composer. Ten Holt studied with Jakob van Domselaer, eventually developing a highly personal style of minimal composition. Ten Holt generally uses consonant, tonal materials and his works are organized in numerous...

Pierre Boulez is a French composer of contemporary classical music and a conductor. He is one of the leaders of the post–World War II musical modernism. His compositions have enriched musical culture, and his advocacy of modern and postmode...

Ennio Morricone was an Italian composer, orchestrator, conductor, and trumpet player who wrote music in a wide range of styles. Morricone composed over 400 scores for cinema and television, as well as over 100 classical works. His score...

Philip Glass is an Academy Award-nominated American composer. His music is frequently described as minimalist, though he prefers the term theatre music. He is considered one of the most influential composers of the late-20th century and is...

Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber is a highly successful English composer of musical theatre. He was the most popular theatre composer of the late 20th century and is arguably the most popular theatre composer of all time, with multiple showpieces th...