Contemporary classical music isWestern art music composed close to the present day. At the beginning of the21st century, it commonly referred to the post-1945post-tonal music after the death ofAnton Webern, and includedserial music,electronic music,experimental music, andminimalist music. Newer forms of music includespectral music andpost-minimalism.
At the beginning of the 20th century, composers ofclassical music were experimenting with an increasinglydissonant pitch language, which sometimes yieldedatonal pieces. FollowingWorld War I, as a backlash against what they saw as the increasingly exaggerated gestures and formlessness of lateRomanticism, certain composers adopted aneoclassic style, which sought to recapture the balanced forms and clearly perceptible thematic processes of earlier styles[1] (see alsoNew Objectivity andsocial realism). In thepost-war era, modernist composers sought to achieve greater levels of control in their composition process (e.g., through the use of thetwelve-tone technique and later totalserialism). At the same time, conversely, composers also experimented with means of abdicating control, exploring indeterminacy or aleatoric processes in smaller or larger degrees.[2] Technological advances led to the birth of electronic music.[3] Experimentation with tape loops and repetitive textures contributed to the advent ofminimalism.[4] Still other composers started exploring the theatrical potential of the musical performance (performance art,mixed media,fluxus).[5] New works of contemporary classical music continue to be created. Each year, theBoston Conservatory at Berklee presents 700 performances. New works from contemporary classical music program students comprise roughly 150 of these performances.[6]
To some extent, European and American traditions diverged after World War II. Among the most influential composers in Europe werePierre Boulez,Luigi Nono, andKarlheinz Stockhausen. The first and last were both pupils ofOlivier Messiaen. An important aesthetic philosophy as well as a group of compositional techniques at this time wasserialism (also called "through-ordered music", "'total' music" or "total tone ordering"), which took as its starting point the compositions ofArnold Schoenberg andAnton Webern (and thus was opposed to traditional twelve-tone music), and was also closely related toLe Corbusier's idea of themodulor.[7] However, some more traditionally based composers such asDmitri Shostakovich andBenjamin Britten maintained a tonal style of composition despite the prominent serialist movement.
In America, composers likeMilton Babbitt,John Cage,Elliott Carter,Henry Cowell,Philip Glass,Steve Reich,George Rochberg, andRoger Sessions formed their own ideas. Some of these composers (Cage, Cowell, Glass, Reich) represented a new methodology ofexperimental music, which began to question fundamental notions of music such asnotation,performance, duration, and repetition, while others (Babbitt, Rochberg, Sessions) fashioned their own extensions of the twelve-tone serialism ofSchoenberg.
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".[8]
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 asPierre Boulez,Luciano Berio,Bruno Maderna,Luigi Nono, andKarlheinz Stockhausen in Europe, and byMilton Babbitt,Donald Martino,Mario Davidovsky, andCharles 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 fordodecaphony, ortwelve-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 includePierre Boulez,Pauline Oliveros,Toru Takemitsu,Jacob Druckman,George Perle,Ralph Shapey,[9]Franco Donatoni,Wolfgang Rihm,Jonathan Harvey,[10]Erkki Salmenhaara,Henrik Otto Donner andRichard Wernick.[11] Those still living in October 2025 includeHelmut Lachenmann,Salvatore Sciarrino,Magnus Lindberg,[10]George Benjamin,Brian Ferneyhough,Richard Wilson, andJames MacMillan.[12]
Between 1975 and 1990, a shift in the paradigm ofcomputer 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, supersedinganalogsynthesizers and fulfilling the traditional functions of composition and scoring, synthesis and sound processing, sampling of audio input, and control over external equipment.[13][needs update]
Some authors equate polystylism witheclecticism, while others make a sharp distinction.[14]
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.[15] Some post-minimalist works employ medieval and other genres associated with early music, such as the "Oi me lasso" and otherlaude ofGavin Bryars.
The historicist movement is closely related to the emergence of musicology and theearly 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,Paulo Galvão,Roman Turovsky-Savchuk). The musical historicism movement has also been stimulated by the formation of such international organizations as theDelian Society andVox Saeculorum.[16]
Some composers have emerged since the 1980s who are influenced byart rock, for example,Rhys Chatham.[17]
New Complexity is a current within today's[when?] European contemporary avant-garde music scene, named in reaction to the New Simplicity. Amongst the candidates suggested for having coined the term are the composerNigel Osborne, the Belgian musicologistHarry Halbreich, and the British/Australian musicologistRichard Toop, who gave currency to the concept of a movement with his article "Four Facets of the New Complexity".[18]
Though oftenatonal, highly abstract, anddissonant in sound, the "New Complexity" is most readily characterized by the use of techniques which require complexmusical notation. This includesextended techniques,microtonality, oddtunings, highly disjunctmelodic contour, innovativetimbres, complexpolyrhythms, unconventionalinstrumentations, abrupt changes in loudness and intensity, and so on.[19] The diverse group of composers writing in this style includesRichard Barrett,Brian Ferneyhough,Claus-Steffen Mahnkopf,James Dillon,Michael Finnissy,James Erber, andRoger Redgate.
Modern ambient music blends classical, electronic, and minimalism, driven by artists likeJon Hopkins,Erland Cooper,Max Richter,Richard D. James,Ludovico Einaudi,Nils Frahm,Ólafur Arnalds,Lambert,Joep Beving, andHania Rani.[20][21] Influenced byBrian Eno andSteve Reich, this genre, sometimes called "neo-classical" or "indie classical", merges cinematic orchestration with electronic textures, appealing to a broader audience.[22][23]
Labels likeErased Tapes Records,New Amsterdam Records, and130701 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.[22][24][25][26]
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Notable composers of operas since 1975 include:
Notable composers of post-1945 classical film and television scores include:[29][30]
Contemporary classical music originally written for the concert hall can also be heard on the music track of some films, such as Stanley Kubrick's2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) andEyes Wide Shut (1999), both of which used concert music byGyörgy Ligeti, and also in Kubrick'sThe Shining (1980) which used music by both Ligeti andKrzysztof Penderecki.[32]Jean-Luc Godard, inLa Chinoise (1967),Nicolas Roeg inWalkabout (1971), and theBrothers Quay inIn Absentia (2000) used music byKarlheinz Stockhausen.
Some notable works for chamber orchestra:
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In recent years, many composers have composed forconcert bands (also called wind ensembles). Notable composers include:
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The following is an incomplete list of contemporary-music festivals:
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