Turn On, Tune In, Drop into New Music. Living Composers Speak Out
25 contemporary composers helping to push string music to new heights
When the first issue of ‘Strings’ appeared 25 years ago, chamber music was entering boom times in America. Not only was the music world beginning to see a proliferation of fresh traditional ensembles, like the Emerson Quartet, bringing vitality to the Old Masters, but such bold, dynamic groups as the Kronos Quartet brought a hip aura around all sorts of brand-new music, from Steve Reich to Ornette Coleman. Whether contemporary specialists or not, string chamber artists were beginning to develop closer relationships with living composers, and bringing a broad array of works to a public that was gradually losing its fear of new music.
What’s next for string chamber music?
Here are 25 composers to keep your ears on. The list is rather arbitrary—it focuses on early- and mid-career composers likely to be producing work well into the next quarter-century, but it also includes a couple of veterans whose music bears further investigation. Most, but not all, are working in English-speaking parts of the world. Some are influenced by alternative styles, others are on the cutting edge, but all of them have caught our collective ears.
This article, "Turn On, Tune In, Drop into New Music. Living Composers Speak Out," is part of the Strings Archive, which you can access with a paid site subscription.
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