James LeggPhoto courtesy Michael Torke

Composer James Legg died suddenly on November 20, 2000.
Mr. Legg began his training in music composition at the Juilliard School of Music while still a teenager and went on …

David Gompper

When you ask about the dominant musical style of today, I think it depends upon whom you ask. My music students might name the latest pop group, probably a mixture of rap …

Martin Bresnick, David Gompper, P.Q. Phan, and Marilyn Shrude respond.

Despite our relatively short history as a nation, the United States boasts an artistic landscape that is arguable the most culturally diverse in the world.

Bradley BambargerPhoto by Melissa Richard

There is no doubt that American composers have come a long way since Dvorák admonished them to stop mimicking Europe and come up with a distinctly native form of …

John AdamsPhoto by Christine AlicinoCourtesy Nonesuch Records

Just three days after completing the score for El Niño, a 110-minute "Christmas oratorio" for soloists, chorus, and orchestra, John Adams invites NewMusicBox editor Frank J. Oteri …

While we wait to see if “Dubya” manages to unite Donkey and Elephant, we will have to content ourselves with music in which there is some kind of tentative “coalition” between styles. Two discs jumped …

Augusta Read ThomasPhoto by Jerome de Perlinghi

G. Schirmer, Inc. has announced the signing of Augusta Read Thomas to an exclusive five-year composer contract, in which the company will represent the music formerly in …

Martin BresnickPhoto courtesy ASCAP

Concert music today is influenced by such a wide and powerful range of sources – audio technology, computers and the Internet, popular, folk and world music, conceptual art, film and …

After intensive periods of performance, recording and teaching, my ears sometimes tell me they need a rest from music.