swap_horiz George Benjamin Alternatives

1

Ennio Morricone

Italian composer (1928–2020) who scored over 500 films, including Sergio Leone's Westerns such as The Good, the Bad and...

Italian Contemporary Film Orchestral

8.9 Great

2

Richard Strauss

Leading German composer of the late Romantic and early modern eras, famous for his groundbreaking operas and the symphon...

German Opera Orchestral Late Romantic

8.8 Great

3

Bernard Herrmann

American composer (1911–1975) best known for his film scores for Alfred Hitchcock, including Psycho (1960) and Vertigo (...

Opera Modern American Film

8.8 Great

4

Benjamin Britten

Benjamin Britten was a leading English composer of the 20th century, celebrated for revitalizing British opera with mast...

Opera Modern Chamber English

8.7 Great

5

Tōru Takemitsu

Japanese composer (1930–1996) renowned for blending Eastern and Western aesthetics in works like November Steps (1967).

Modern Japanese Film Orchestral

8.4 Great

6

Joe Hisaishi

Japanese composer best known for his decades-long collaboration with director Hayao Miyazaki, scoring virtually every St...

Anime Contemporary Japanese Film

8.4 Great

7

György Kurtág

György Kurtág (b. 1926) is a Hungarian composer celebrated for his intensely concentrated miniatures and chamber works i...

Hungarian Contemporary Chamber Miniaturist

8.4 Great

8

Nino Rota

Italian composer (1911–1979) celebrated for film scores including The Godfather and his long collaboration with Federico...

Opera Modern Italian Film

8.2 Great

9

Kaija Saariaho

Finnish composer (1952–2023) known for spectralist-influenced works including the opera L'Amour de loin, premiered at Sa...

Opera Contemporary Electronics Spectral

8.2 Great

10

Howard Shore

Canadian composer (born 1946) best known for his Academy Award-winning score for The Lord of the Rings film trilogy (200...

Opera Contemporary Canadian Film

8.2 Great

11

Thomas Adès

British composer (born 1971) known for operas such as The Tempest (2004) and his virtuosic orchestral and chamber writin...

Opera Contemporary Orchestral Piano

7.9 Good

12

Alexandre Desplat

French composer who won Academy Awards for The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014) and The Shape of Water (2017), among the most...

French Contemporary Film Orchestral

7.8 Good

13

Unsuk Chin

South Korean composer (born 1961) whose acclaimed works include the opera Alice in Wonderland (2007) and Akrostichon-Wor...

Korean Opera Contemporary Modernist

7.7 Good

14

Gérard Grisey

Gérard Grisey (1946–1998) was a French composer and founding figure of spectral music, which derives musical structure f...

French Contemporary Orchestral Chamber

7.7 Good

15

Magnus Lindberg

Finnish composer (born 1958) known for dense, complex orchestral works such as Kraft (1985) and his tenure with the New...

Contemporary Modernist Orchestral Chamber

7.6 Good

16

Giya Kancheli

Giya Kancheli (1935–2019) was a Georgian composer noted for his hauntingly atmospheric post-Soviet orchestral works and...

Contemporary Orchestral Chamber Spiritual

7.6 Good

17

Harrison Birtwistle

Harrison Birtwistle (1934–2022) was a British composer known for his complex modernist operas, including Gawain and The...

Opera Modern Avant Garde Orchestral

7.6 Good

18

Bright Sheng

Chinese-American composer (born 1955) who blends Chinese and Western traditions in works like the opera Dream of the Red...

Opera Contemporary Orchestral Cross Cultural

7.3 Good

19

Toshio Hosokawa

Japanese composer (born 1955) known for works inspired by calligraphy and Zen aesthetics, including the opera Hanjo (200...

Contemporary Japanese Orchestral Chamber

7.3 Good

20

Tigran Mansurian

Armenian composer (born 1939) whose works blend Armenian folk idioms with contemporary classical techniques and poetic s...

Contemporary Orchestral Chamber Sacred

7.2 Good