Beyond Tchaikovsky: 5 Modern Composers Revolutionizing Ballet Music Today
For centuries, the names Tchaikovsky, Stravinsky, and Delibes have been synonymous with ballet. Their iconic scores provided the foundation upon which countless masterpieces were built. But the art form did not freeze in the 19th century. Today, a new vanguard of composers is stepping out of the orchestra pit and into the spotlight, crafting soundscapes that are pushing choreographers, dancers, and audiences into thrilling new territory. These modern maestros are dismantling traditions, blending genres, and crafting scores that are as dramatically potent and complex as the movement they inspire.
Gone are the days when ballet music was purely melodic and rhythmically straightforward. The contemporary ballet score can be minimalist, maximalist, electronic, acoustic, or a breathtaking fusion of it all. Let's meet five of the most influential composers who are redefining what ballet music can be.
1. Anna Þorvaldsdóttir
Soundscape Organic Atmospheric
Icelandic composer Anna Þorvaldsdóttir doesn't just write music; she sculpts immense, breathing sonic ecosystems. Her work for ballet is less about providing a strict rhythmic count and more about creating a vast, immersive environment through which the dancers can move. Her compositions often feel geological—evoking the slow creep of glaciers, the rumble of volcanoes, and the shimmer of the aurora borealis.
"I think of my music as a world of sound where each listener can find their own narrative."
Choreographers are drawn to her work for its profound emotional depth and textural richness. Dancers don't dance *to* her music; they dance *inside* it. The result is often a deeply meditative and powerfully physical performance that feels both ancient and utterly new.
- Archora (Choreographed by Crystal Pite for The Royal Ballet)
- Score for Alexander Ekman's Episode 31
- Her orchestral works METACOSMOS and CATAMORPHOSIS are often used as inspiration for new creations.
2. Jerskin Fendrix
Electronic Avant-Pop Unconventional
If you thought ballet scores couldn't be weird, Jerskin Fendrix is here to prove you spectacularly wrong. Bursting onto the scene from London's experimental pop and electronic world, Fendrix brings a manic, genre-obliterating energy to the stage. His music is a chaotic collage of glitchy electronics, dissonant classical motifs, sudden bursts of pop melody, and unsettling sound effects.
His approach is intensely narrative, using jarring shifts in tone and texture to mirror psychological states. For a generation raised on the internet's fragmented attention span, Fendrix's scores feel electrifyingly relevant. He provides a chaotic, unpredictable, and often hilarious bedrock for choreographers interested in exploring modern anxiety, technology, and identity.
- Score for the feature film Poor Things (a collaboration with director Yorgos Lanthimos).
- His work with choreographer Benjamin Millepied for the L.A. Dance Project.
- His solo album Winterreise showcases the eclectic style he brings to dance.
3. Missy Mazzoli
Post-Minimalist Lyrical Cinematic
As one of the most performed modern opera composers of her generation, Missy Mazzoli brings a powerful sense of drama and lush, inventive orchestration to ballet. Her music is often described as "post-minimalist," weaving repetitive, driving patterns with soaring, lyrical melodies and unexpected harmonic shifts.
"I'm always trying to find that balance between the brain and the gut, between intellectual complexity and raw emotional power."
Mazzoli's scores possess a cinematic quality that makes them ideal for narrative ballet. She has a unique gift for creating strong, complex female voices within her music, making her a sought-after collaborator for story-driven works that explore contemporary themes. Her work feels both instantly accessible and deeply sophisticated.
- Violent, Violent Sea (created for Benjamin Millepied)
- Her operas Breaking the Waves and Proving Up.
- Numerous works for acclaimed chamber ensemble Victoire.
4. Michael Gordon
Driving Rhythms Amplified Powerful
A founding member of the legendary Bang on a Can collective, Michael Gordon has been a force in redefining classical music for decades. His ballet scores are known for their immense, propulsive energy, often built on complex, interlocking rhythmic patterns that build to overwhelming crescendos. He frequently uses amplification and electronic manipulation to transform traditional orchestral sounds into something visceral and rock-inflected.
Gordon's music is intensely physical. It doesn't just suggest movement; it demands it. Choreographers like Justin Peck and Wayne McGregor have repeatedly turned to his work for its architectural clarity and raw power, using his driving pulses to create ballets that are both mathematically precise and explosively energetic.
- Weather (used by Justin Peck for New York City Ballet)
- Dystopia (created for the Los Angeles Philharmonic)
- Rewriting Beethoven's Symphony No. 7 with Bang on a Can.
5. Oliver Leith
Textural Intimate Absurdist
British composer Oliver Leith creates scores that are fascinatingly detailed and often curiously intimate. He finds music in the mundane: the crackle of paper, the plink of a toy piano, the sound of breath, all woven into delicate orchestral textures. His work is quiet, strange, and deeply poetic, focusing on small gestures and the beauty of imperfect sounds.
Leith's approach is a radical departure from the grand tradition of ballet. He invites a different quality of movement—one of subtlety, nuance, and quiet introspection. Choreographers use his music to explore fragility, memory, and the absurdity of everyday life, creating works that feel like whispered secrets rather than shouted declarations.
- Hoopla (created for the Royal Ballet)
- Score for the film After Love.
- His chamber opera Holloway.
The Beat Goes On
The next time you settle into your seat at the ballet, listen closely. The music might not be what you expect. It might pull you into a vast Icelandic soundscape, jerk you through a glitchy digital world, or lure you in with a intimate, strange whisper. These five composers, and many others like them, are proof that ballet is not a museum art form. It is a living, breathing, and evolving collaboration, and its musical soul is being rewritten for the 21st century in the most exciting ways imaginable. The revolution is being composed, one note at a time.
