swap_horiz Saariaho Kaija Alternatives

1

Einojuhani Rautavaara

Einojuhani Rautavaara was a prolific Finnish composer of the 20th century, best known for his 1972 orchestral work Cantu...

Symphony Romantic Contemporary Mystical

8.4 Great

2

Ryuichi Sakamoto

Japanese composer and musician who won an Academy Award for The Last Emperor (1987) and was a pioneering figure in elect...

Contemporary Electronic Japanese Film

8.3 Great

3

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

4

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

5

John Corigliano

John Corigliano is an acclaimed American composer of symphonic and film music who won the 2001 Pulitzer Prize for his Sy...

Opera American Contemporary Film

8.1 Great

6

William Bolcom

William Bolcom is an American composer and pianist who won the 1988 Pulitzer Prize for his Twelve New Etudes for Piano a...

Opera American Contemporary Piano

8.1 Great

7

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

8

George Benjamin

British composer (born 1960) whose opera Written on Skin (2012) has been widely performed and acclaimed internationally.

Opera Contemporary Orchestral Chamber

7.8 Good

9

Hans Zimmer

German film composer (born 1957) whose scores for The Lion King (1994) and Inception (2010) made him among Hollywood's m...

German Contemporary Electronic Film

7.8 Good

10

Missy Mazzoli

Missy Mazzoli is an American composer noted for her dramatic operas and was the first woman commissioned by the Metropol...

Opera American Contemporary Accessible

7.8 Good

11

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

12

Tan Dun

Chinese-born composer (born 1957) known for scores including Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000) and the opera The Fir...

Opera Contemporary Film Chinese

7.7 Good

13

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

14

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

15

Kalevi Aho

Kalevi Aho is a highly regarded Finnish composer known for his massive orchestral output, having composed over fifteen s...

Symphony Contemporary Chamber Finnish

7.6 Good

16

Per Nørgård

Per Nørgård was a leading Danish composer who developed the infinity series compositional technique, first applied in hi...

Opera Danish Contemporary Orchestral

7.6 Good

17

Tristan Murail

Tristan Murail (b. 1947) is a French composer and co-founder of the spectral music movement, known for computer-assisted...

French Contemporary Electronic Orchestral

7.5 Good

18

Georg Friedrich Haas

Austrian composer Georg Friedrich Haas is renowned for his microtonal music, particularly his large-scale orchestral wor...

Austrian Opera Contemporary Spectral

7.3 Good

19

Jonathan Harvey

British composer Jonathan Harvey (1939–2012) was highly regarded for merging traditional spirituality with advanced elec...

Contemporary Electronic British Sacred

7.2 Good

20

Aulis Sallinen

Aulis Sallinen is a leading Finnish contemporary composer celebrated for his operas and symphonies, notably the acclaime...

Symphony Opera Contemporary Chamber

6.8 Fair