20th century | Musicosity

20th century

Elliott Carter

Elliott Cook Carter, Jr. (born December 11, 1908) is a two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning American composer born and living in New York City, a composer encompassing many facets of classical music, from neoclassicism to serialism. He studied with Nadia Boulanger in Paris in the 1930s, during which time he published his first composition in 1937 and then returned to the United States. After a neoclassical phase, he went on to write atonal, rhythmically complex music.

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Julia Wolfe

Julia Wolfe (born December 18, 1958) is an American composer. She was born in Philadelphia and works in New York. Wolfe's music is rhythmically vigorous and often clangorously dissonant. As a composer associated with the downtown style of new music she is not averse to drawing on rock and minimalism as primary influences. Her music, however, shows a good deal more rhythmic complexity than is generally found in these genres, hence her music can properly be considered and described as postminimalist.

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Anonymous 4

Anonymous 4 is a female quartet, based in New York City. Their main performance genre is music, although they have also premiered works by living composers such as John Tavener and Steve Reich. Anonymous 4 has performed in cities throughout North America, and have been regulars at major international festivals. They decided to make the 2003-2004 season their last as a full-time recording and touring ensemble, although special projects (such as their Gloryland CD and their "Long Time Traveling" Tour) continue to bring them together on occasion.

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Lawrence Casserley

Active in electro-acoustic composition and performance since the 1960s, Lawrence Casserley has earned a reputation as a first-rate improviser with signal-processing electronics alongside such names as Evan Parker and Barry Guy. In the early 1990s, he became one of the first musicians to work with IRCAM's Signal Processing Workstation, and much of his current work involves Max/msp software. On a slightly less academic front, he is also one of the directors of the Colourscape organization...

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Paul Lewis

There are at least four artists that produce music under the name Paul Lewis. There is Paul Lewis, a popular singer-song writer from the DelMarVa peninsula (Delaware + Eastern Shore Maryland/Virginia). And there is Paul Lewis, the British classical pianist. 1.) Paul Lewis is a popular singer-songwriter from the DelMarVa peninsula (Delaware + Eastern Shore Maryland/Virginia) who performs frequently across Delmarva and the Philadelphia/Baltimore/Washington DC corridor. The following text is excerpted from his biography page at www.paul-lewis.com:

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Thea Musgrave

Thea Musgrave is a Scottish-born composer now living in the United States whose music is performed regularly on both sides of the Atlantic. Born in Edinburgh on 27 May 1928, she studied at the University of Edinburgh then in Paris, where she spent four years as a pupil of Nadia Boulanger, before establishing herself in London with her orchestral, choral, operatic and chamber works. In 1970 she was named guest professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara, which anchored her increasing involve-ment with the musical life of the United States.

Read more about Thea Musgrave on Last.fm.

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Paul Hindemith

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.

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William Walton

Sir William Turner Walton, OM (March 29, 1902–March 8, 1983) was a British composer and conductor. His style was influenced by the works of Stravinsky, Sibelius and jazz, and is characterized by rhythmic vitality, bittersweet harmony, sweeping Romantic melody and brilliant orchestration. His output includes orchestral and choral works, chamber music and ceremonial music, as well as notable film scores.

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