Georg Friedrich Haas (August 16, 1953 in Graz) is an Austrian composer of spectral music. Haas' style recalls that of György Ligeti in its use of micropolyphony, microintervals and exploitation of the overtone series. He is a founding member of the Graz composers' collective Die andere Seite. He lives in Vienna and composes in a cottage in Fischbach, Styria.
George Benjamin (born January 31, 1960, London, England) is a British composer of classical music. He is also a conductor, pianist and teacher. Benjamin attended Westminster School and then studied with Olivier Messiaen at the Paris Conservatoire during the second half of the 1970s. Messiaen himself was reported to have described Benjamin as his favourite pupil. He then read music at King's College, Cambridge, studying under Alexander Goehr, and emerged in his early twenties as a mature and confident voice.
Sir Michael Kemp Tippett, O.M. (2 January 1905 – 8 January 1998) was one of the foremost English composers of the 20th century. Tippett was regarded by many as an outsider in British music, a view that may have been related to his early conscientious objection and his homosexuality. His pacifist beliefs led to a prison sentence in World War II, and for many years his music was considered ungratefully written for voices and instruments, and therefore difficult to perform.
Claudio Monteverdi ("Green Mountain") (Cremona May 15, 1567 – November 29, 1643) was an Italian composer, violinist and singer. His work marks the transition from Renaissance to Baroque music. During his long life he produced work that can be classified in both categories, and he was one of the most significant revolutionaries that brought about the change in style. Monteverdi wrote the earliest dramatically viable opera, Orfeo, and was fortunate enough to enjoy fame during his lifetime.
Born in Hanau in 1895, Paul Hindemith was taught the violin as a child. He entered the Hoch'sche Konservatorium in Frankfurt am Main where he studied conducting, composition and violin under Arnold Mendelssohn and Bernhard Sekles, supporting himself by playing in dance bands and musical-comedy outfits. He led the Frankfurt Opera orchestra from 1915 to 1923 and played in the Rebner string quartet in 1921 in which he played second violin, and later the viola. In 1929 he founded the Amar Quartet, playing viola, and extensively toured Europe.
Paul Goodwin is regarded as the foremost baroque oboist of his generation, is now firmly established as a conductor. He has made more than 20 solo and concerto recordings and was soloist with many of Europe's finest early music groups. Goodwin's experience as an oboist helps bring lyricism, phrasing, and architecture to his conducting.
Israeli-American composer Avner Dorman has quickly risen to become one of Israel’s most successful and renowned composers. At the age of 25, he became the youngest composer to win Israel’s prestigious Prime Minister’s Award. In 2001, Dorman received the ACUM prize from the Israeli performing rights society for his Ellef Symphony. Ma’ariv, the second largest newspaper in Israel, named Dorman “Composer of the Year” for 2002, and the performance of his song cycle Boaz received the Israeli Cultural Ministry Prize for best performance of Israeli music the same year.