List of 21st century classical composers by birth date

This list is by no means complete. Only composers of significant fame and importance are included. See also List of 21st century classical composers by death date.

1900s

*Elliott Carter (1908- )

1910s

*Gian Carlo Menotti (1911-2007)
*David Diamond (1915-2005)
*Douglas Lilburn (1915-2001)
*Milton Babbitt (1916- )
*Henri Dutilleux (1916- )
*John Gardner (1917- )
*George Rochberg (1918-2005)

1920s

*Harold Shapero (1920- )
*Malcolm Arnold (1921-2006)
*Andrew Imbrie (1921-2007)
*Karel Husa (1921- )
*Chaya Arbel (1921- )
*Iannis Xenakis (1922-2001 )
*Gyorgy Ligeti (1923-2006)
*Ned Rorem (1923- )
*Luciano Berio (1925-2003)
*Pierre Boulez (1925- )
*Mikis Theodorakis (1925- )
*Hans Werner Henze (1926- )
*John Joubert (1927- )
*Einojuhani Rautavaara (1928- )
*Robert Helps (1928-2001)
*Karlheinz Stockhausen (1928-2007)
*Ennio Morricone (1928- )
*George Crumb (1929- )
*Alun Hoddinott (1929- )
*Peter Sculthorpe (1929- )

1930s

*Robert Ashley (1930- )
*Larry Austin (1930- )
*Theo Loevendie (1930- )
*William Perry (1930- )
*Sofia Gubaidulina (1931- )
*Mauricio Kagel (1931- )
*Ib Norholm (1931- )
*Wojciech Kilar (1932- )
*Per Norgard (1932- )
*John Williams (1932- )
*Leonardo Balada (1933- )
*Henryk Górecki (1933- )
*Krzysztof Penderecki (1933- )
*Yves Prin (1933- )
*Harrison Birtwistle (1934- )
*Peter Maxwell Davies (1934- )
*Giya Kancheli (1935- )
*Nicholas Maw (1935- )
*Arvo Part (1935- )
*Terry Riley (1935- )
*Aulis Sallinen (1935- )
*Peter Schat (1935-2003)
*Steve Reich (1936- )
*Aribert Reimann (1936- )
*Osvaldas Balakauskas (1937- )
*Walter Hekster (1937- )
*David Del Tredici (1937- )
*Philip Glass (1937- )
*Valentin Silvestrov (1937- )
*Bart Berman (1938- )
*William Bolcom (1938- )
*Gloria Coates (1938- )
*John Harbison (1938- )
*Lorenzo Palomo (1938- )
*Frederic Rzewski (1938- )
*Jan Vriend (1938- )
*Yuji Takahashi (1938- )
*Joan Tower (1938- )
*Heinz Holliger (1939- )
*John McCabe (1939- )
*Boris Tishchenko (1939- )
*Ellen Taaffe Zwilich (1939- )

1940s

*John Mitchell (1941- )
*Gavin Bryars (1943- )
*Dennis Eberhard (1943-2005)
*Margriet Ehlen (1943- )
*Brian Ferneyhough (1943- )
*Joseph Schwantner (1943- )
*Michael Nyman (1944- )
*John Tavener (1944- )
*Klaas de Vries (1944- )
*John Rutter (1945- )
*Barry Schrader (1945- )
*Ulrich Leyendecker (1946- )
*Peteris Vasks (1946- )
*Steven Gellman (1947- )
*John S. Hilliard (1947- )
*Pēteris Plakidis (1947- )
*Hristo Tsanoff (1947- )
*John Coolidge Adams (1947- )
*Emil Tabakov (1947- )
*Michael Berkeley (1948- )
*Kalevi Aho (1949- )
*Daniel Catan (1949- )
*Sinyan Shen (1949- )
*Dan Locklair (1949- )
*Jackson Berkey (1942- )
*Roger Lee Hall (1942- )

1950s

*Laurent Petitgirard (1950- )
*Christopher Yavelow (1950- )
*Lorenzo Ferrero (1951- )
*Kaija Saariaho (1952- )
*Oliver Knussen (1952- )
*Philippe Manoury (1952- )
*Alla Pavlova (1952- )
*Wolfgang Rihm (1952- )
*Hsueh-Yung Shen (1952- )
*Gustavo Santaolalla (1952- )
*Reza Vali (1952- )
*Peter-Jan Wagemans (1952- )
*Pawel Szymanski (1954- )
*Judith Weir (1954- )
*Bright Sheng (1955- )
*Dror Elimelech (1956- )
*Roberto Musci (1956- )
*Keith Burstein (1957- )
*Alexandre Danilevsky (1957- )
*John Faverman (1957- )
*Tan Dun (1957- )
*Oscar van Dillen (1958- )
*Esa-Pekka Salonen (1958- )
*Magnus Lindberg (1958- )
*Davide Zannoni (1958- )
*James MacMillan (1959- )
*Shigeru Kan-no (1959- )
*Robert Scott Thompson (1959- )

1960s

*Miguel Azguime (1960- )
*George Benjamin (1960- )
*Osvaldo Golijov (1960- )
*Alexander Shchetynsky (1960- )
*Alexander Kaloian (1962- )
*Mark-Anthony Turnage (1960- )
*Unsuk Chin (1961- )
*Hanna Kulenty (1961- )
*Roman Turovsky (1961- )
*Michael Torke (1961- )
*Shiloh Aizawa (1962- )
*Jennifer Higdon (1962- )
*Evan Chambers (1963- )
*Thorkell Atlason (1964- )
*Luca Belcastro (1964- )
*Juan J. Colomer aka Juan José Colomer (1966- )
*Roberto Carnevale (1966- )
*Andreas Kunstein (1967- )
*Paolo Longo (1967- )
*Daniel Theaker (1967- )
*Roxanna Panufnik (1968- )
*Javier Torres Maldonado (1968- )

1970s

*Troy Lennerd (1970- )
*Marina Leonardi (1970- )
*Fazil Say (1970- )
*Andi Vincent (1971- )
*Thomas Adès (1971- )
*Carlo Forlivesi (1971- )
*Pawel Mykietyn (1971- )
*Edwardo Perez (1971- )
*Edward Top (1972- )
*Richard Causton (1971- )
*François Sarhan (1972- )
*Kristoffer Zegers (1973- )
*M. Zachary Johnson (1974- )
*Joseph Phibbs (1974- )
*Juan Manuel Abras (1975- )
*Avner Dorman (1975- )
*Randolph Téllez (1976)
*David Flynn (1977- )
*Paolo Blundo Canto (1979- )
*Joseph Hallman (1979- )
*Rodrigo Castillo Filomarino(1979- )

1980s

*Matthew Dewey (1984- )

1990s

*Jay Greenberg (1991- )