
On this page you will find a colourful collection of Contemporary composers. Below you can read some biographics, followed by a link to the music.
If you are impatient or eager… Go to the Music directly!
Biographies
Ariel Ramirez

The Argentine composer Ariel Ramirez (1921 – 2010) is mainly famous for his Missa Criolla from 1964, yet he composed the melody of Alfonsina y el Mar as well. His music is heavily influenced by the Argentine folk music.
Eric Satie

Eric Satie (1866-1925) was one of the well-known composers of Impressionism, at least he is now, in his time he was maligned. His career for the greater part took place in the cabarets of Montmartre. He introduced a large number of extraordinary in a completely personal style.
Joao Pernambuco

The Brazilian composer Joao Pernambuco was also known as Joao Teixeira Guimaraes (1883 – 1947). At a young age he learnt to play the viola caipira, a small steel string guitar, the Brazilian national instrument and he got in touch with the music from the street. After his parents died, he landed in Recife as an orphan. Here he made a living with various jobs like a blacksmith.
In Rio de Janeiro he became well known with compositions of national musical forms like Jongos, Valses, Toadas, and Cancoes. Because he was illiterate, he had to trust that his partners scored and published his music under his name. Unfortunately, many broke this trust and quite a few top hits were published under other names, so Pernambuco did not see a penny from it. Heitor Villa Lobos helped him a bit, scoring and publishing a number of Pernambuco’s songs under the name of the composer.
Astor Piazzolla

Astor Piazzolla (1921 – 1992) has become famous with his Argentine tangos and the innovations that he added to this genre. Besides he composed works for guitar and guitar ensemble, like the well-known Histoire du Tango for flute and guitar.
Baden-Powell de Aquino

Baden Powell de Aquino was born in 1937 in the town of Varre-e-Sai in the vicinity of Rio de Janeiro. Obviously, his parents were great fans of the Scouting Movement because they named their son after Baden Powell, the founder of the Scouting Movement. In his childhood, his house was full of music, because his parents loved to organize recitals in their home. Baden Powell studied guitar and became one of the leading musicians in the bossa nova movement, which became very popular in Brasil and abroad. His cooperation with the singer/poet Vincius de Moraes yielded a number of beautiful songs. He passed away in 2000.
Matilde Tettamanti de Calandra
Matilde Tettamanti de Calandra (1909 – 1995) was an Argentinian guitarist and composer. She studied guitar with María Luisa Anido, composition with Alberto Ginastera and orchestration with Floro Ugarte. After 1946 she toured Argentina for her concerts and was a member of a number of guitar ensembles.
Marlo Strauss
Marlo Strauss is a German guitarist/composer that has the same age as me. I got a collection of his compositions titled Halbeidelsteine Vier Klangstudien für Gitarre as a present to encourage me to play some contemporary music. The theme of the compositions (the semiprecious stones) covers my wife Erna’s passion, she is very good at crystal therapy.
Francis Poulenc

Francis Poulenc (1899 – 1963) received piano lessons from his mother in his early childhood and developed further after the death of his parents under the guidance of the pianist Ricardo Viñes. As a composer he was self-taught. He came into contact with the Le Groupe des Six, a collective of composers that opposed the heavy romanticism of the time (the twenties of the 20th century) with light-hearted and extravagant compositions. Darius Milhaud, Arthur Honegger and Eric Satie were important members of this collective.
He composed piano works, songs on poems, chamber music, choral works and even a few operas. His music is characterized by idiosyncrasy and a great emphasis on melody.
Gary Ryan

Gary Ryan (*1969) is an English guitarist and composer. He studied piano and guitar in his youth and developed through the Guildhall School of Music and Drama and the Royal Academy of Music into a well-known guitarist, composer and music teacher.
In terms of compositions, he focuses on guitarists of all levels.