Henry Mancini, one of the greatest composers in the history of film, celebrates his 100th birthday on 16 April 2024. A highly successful recording and concert artist, Mancini was widely successful as a Hollywood composer, making imaginative use of jazz

“In Silence, we can truly hear the voice of God” Ten years ago, on 12 November 2013, the British composer John Tavener (1944-2013) died at his home in Child Okeford, Dorset. Tavener had been battling considerable health problems throughout his

“A Renaissance artist for modern times” Born on 21 October 1973 in Chelyabinsk, a city in the Ural Mountains near the border with Siberia, Lera Auerbach is considered one of the most exciting new voices among today’s composers. Her music

“That inner voice has both gentleness and clarity” A correspondent for the Washington Post wrote, “When the time comes, perhaps a hundred years from now, to tally up achievements in the performing arts during the last third of the 20th

“I Was Looking at the Ceiling and Then I Saw the Sky” Celebrating his 75th birthday in 2022, American composer John Adams is considered one of the most frequently performed living composers of concert music. Primarily known for his operatic

“Five Lines, Four Spaces” As a composer and teacher George Rochberg (1918-2005) strongly believed that “music should express the passions of the human heart.” A robust proponent of serial techniques in the mid-1960s, Rochberg eventually sought new expressions by returning

“All great music is contemporary” On 18 January 1973, Michael Tilson Thomas introduced Four Organs, scored for four Hammond organs and maracas by aspiring composer Steve Reich to New York audiences. Scheduled alongside music by Mozart, Bartók and Liszt, audience

Imagine… John Winston (later Ono) Lennon was born on 9 October 1940, in Liverpool, England, to Julia (Stanley) and Alfred Lennon, a merchant seaman. When his parents separated, 4-year-old John ended up living with his Aunt Mimi. John showed some