This may sound like a dumb question?
 

Who's the great classical writers these days? or are all the good one's dead?

There are A LOT of good composers out there today! These are some of my favourites. A few of them are film composers.

• Stephen Sondheim
• John Williams
• Arvo Part
• Philip Glass
• Hans Zimmer
• Howard Shore

I hadn't realised Part was still alive, his music is fantastic.

FiveKorvex: as a genre, "classical" isn't all it used to be, indeed the vast majority of the community that used to compose classical music have now evolved into a genre often referred to as "Contemporary Classical" (amusing name that). There are still quite a few composers of this style, and those who kick back to the old forms and styles of the truly classical eras, but due to the creation of rock, jazz, and all the other genres in the last 100 years, it has fallen to the wayside in terms of popularity, which is why it doesn't seem as evident these days.

As far as I know, Part is still alive :) This is one of my favourite pieces of his:



Your explanation of classical as a genre today is spot on!

Here's a relatively modern composition by Australian composer, Peter Sculthorpe (born 1929 and still alive)

Earth Cry (composed - 1986)



It does get a lot more intense after the silence at around 1:30 :)

Elena Kats-Chernin



Another Australian composer and an uncommon sight in that female composers usually don't gain much recognition, but I love her music :).

I like John Adams, Phillip Glass, Zbigniew Priesner, Steven Reich and Ennio Morricone, too. And Henryk Gorecki just left us last month.

A few CD's with works from living composers that I would recommend include.....

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/...500_AA300_.jpg http://www.musicweb-international.co...ov_4777461.jpg

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/...500_AA300_.jpg http://www.musicweb-international.co...2876880602.jpg

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/...500_AA300_.jpg http://images2.frs.nl/8/b6/1c3/0636943963524.jpg


....and operas on DVD...

http://www.1000recordings.com/images...aija-752-l.jpg

http://images.amazon.com/images/P/63...1.LZZZZZZZ.jpg

I like Vestard Shimkus.

I might also include Esa-Pekka Salonen, esp now that he's given up the baton.

abiow.com

I forgot to mention Rautavaara and Tavener-both still alive and still composingat last check.

of the modern classical, I only listen to film composers and minimalists

most have been mentioned here - Preisner, Reich, Morricone and I like Trevor Jones

Is it classical though, when the music is written to illustrate moving pictures? Shouldn'T it stand in its own?

^^some does, some don't

some are permanently imprinted on my brain along with the images - i.e. Vangelis' Blade Runner

Joe Hisaishi is a good...

Try Lowell Liebermann or Ellen Taafe Zwilich. You can find examples of both on Youtube.

Being a respectable contemporary composer no longer means embracing serialism or even atonality (thank goodness!).