What is contemporary classical music?

If you like classical music but can’t relate to the “classics,” you might be wondering: Who are the Mozarts and the Beethovens of today? There is a host of composers making new music that continues the rich tradition of the masters, while offering fresh perspectives. Here are some of the best works from recent years.

Edie Hill’s ‘Poem for 2084’ (1996)

Hill says this work, commissioned by the Dale Warland Singers, was inspired by poet Joan Wolf’s work. She was drawn to it because “it is both personal and universal,” she says. “It is both hopeful and heedful. I wanted to the music to reflect all of these elements.” She pointed out that at the end of the piece, the sopranos sing “take heart” in the form of a question. “These two words became an anchor for the entire piece,” Hill says. Here’s a 2018 rendition by the choir the Crossing.

David Lang’s ‘Again (After Ecclesiastes) (2005)

This piece is part of a larger song cycle, The Writings, based on five Old Testament books that are crucial to the Jewish liturgical year. The melodic theme repeats steadily, a reminder that nature's cycles are continuous. Near the end, the choir (here, the Choir of Merton College, Cambridge) sings: “What happened before will happen again.”

Andy Akiho’s ‘Karakurenai’ (2007)

Japanese for “Foreign Crimson,” this work was written by Akiho as part of his Synesthesia Suite for solo steel pan drum, but he says it can be “performed on any combination of instruments and can included elements of improvisation.” This approach is evident in this version by Sandbox Percussion.

Errollyn Wallen’s ‘Concerto Grosso’ (2008)

This work provides an updated take on the Baroque concerto style, “a dazzling rethinking” that is “distorted but utterly new and compelling,” in the words of conductor John Butt. The final movement is inflected by jazz and other contemporary styles.

Mizzy Mazzoli’s ‘Still Life With Avalanche’ (2008)

Mazzoli has been described as a “post-millennial Mozart” and “21st-century gatecrasher of new classical music.” Still Life, described as “a pile of melodies collapsing in a chaotic freefall,” was commissioned by the sextet Eighth Blackbird, an ardent advocate of music by contemporary composers.

Anna Thorvaldsdottir’s ‘Aeriality’ (2011)

Thorvaldsdottir says, “‘Aerality’ refers to the state of gliding through the air with nothing or little to hold on to — as if flying.” She adds that the work is “on the border of symphonic music and sound art.” Listen to the aural landscape she creates.

John Luther Adams’ ‘Become Ocean’ (2013)

Adams was inspired by the oceans of the Pacific Northwest to compose this piece, which won a Pulitzer Prize and a Grammy. The title was taken from a phrase by John Cage: “Life on this Earth first emerged from the sea. As the polar ice melts and sea level rises, we humans find ourselves facing the prospect that once again we may quite literally become the ocean.” This timely sentiment prompted New Yorker critic Alex Ross to say it “may be the loveliest apocalypse in musical history.”

Robert Mirabal and Ethel’s ‘The River’ (2016)

This collaboration between Native American flutist/storyteller Mirabal and the string quartet Ethel was recorded in Taos, New Mexico, incorporating the sounds of wind and water into a mesmerizing tone poem. The music brings forth the majesty of the natural world and the winding river that stands in for the ebb and flow of life.

Carlos Simon’s ‘Fate Now Conquers’ (2020)

Simon was influenced by none other than Ludwig van Beethoven in this piece. “Using the beautifully fluid harmonic structure of the second movement of Beethoven’s Seventh Symphony, I have composed musical gestures that are representative of the unpredictable ways of fate,” he says. Simon counterposes string arpeggios with free-flowing passages that “depict the uncertainty of life that hovers over us.”

Raven Chacon’s ‘Voiceless Mass’ (2021)

This Pulitzer Prize-winning work by Navajo composer Chacon was commissioned specifically for the Nichols & Simpson organ at the Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist in Milwaukee. The piece contains no audible singing; Chacon says that “in exploiting the architecture of the cathedral, Voiceless Mass considers the futility of giving voice to the voiceless, when ceding space is never an option for those in power.”

Nico Muhly’s ‘Throughline’ (2021)

This work is divided into 13 sections, played without a pause, each featuring one member of the orchestra. Contributors to the music included bassist Esperanza Spalding, Finnish conductor/composer Esa-Pekka Salonen and an AI entity designed by scientist Carol Reiley that took nine bars of Muhly’s composition and “wrote” nine more of its own. If that’s not contemporary, what is?

Jlin’s ‘Soul Food’ (2023)

This work was composed by the electronic musician Jerrilynn Patton, known as Jlin, for the marching band at the University of Arkansas Pine Bluff, a historically Black college. Jlin has been influenced by Chicago’s footwork style, as well as musicians such as Nina Simone and Igor Stravinsky. If you love rhythm, this piece (interpreted here by Third Coast Percussion) is in your wheelhouse.  

As always, listen to the best of new music on YourClassical’s weekly show for contemporary classical, Extra Eclectic.