Do I have to be a musician if I’d like to listen to modern and contemporary classical music? The answer is simple and clear: ABSOLUTELY NOT. There’s no qualification required to listen to pop, rap, rock, r&b, metal, jazz, etc. either. Therefore, this site is for you if you are tired of the same old melodies and emotions you have heard a thousand times before, or if you are merely curious.

Classical music composers create their works without regretting the time and energy spent. What inspires them is to express something new or something with a deeper meaning. Along with the myriad emotional nuances, these innovations are what we’d like to present to you.

We intend to breach the barriers that prevent listeners from taking the first step towards modern and contemporary classical music. People (quite naturally) mostly like familiar things, so we aim to make modern and contemporary classical music familiar to you. We firmly believe that it is easy and delightful to get used to the new music if you advance step by step. We aim to show you that modern and contemporary classical music is captivating, engaging, and after a while, addictive.

The history of music is about experimenting with innovations (musical sound, rhythm, instrumentation, etc.). In short, this evolution (the new musical solutions) led to the loss of much of the classical music audience in the 20th century. Without question, modern and contemporary classical music is often – intentionally – strange or shocking at first hearing. Therefore, on contemporaryclassicals.com, modern and contemporary classical compositions are classified into four categories based on sonic and/or emotional (un)usualness (or unexpectedness, strangeness) compared to classical music before 1900. Naturally, this type of categorization is subjective – in fact, ultra-subjective. It is essential that these categories should not be taken to refer to the quality of the musical pieces or the degree of their emotional impact. For this reason, each category is called a “Listening Room”, because this term is completely neutral from a musical point of view. For more details, please see the FAQ.

Unprecedented approach: 4 listening categories. For everyone: no education required. Masterpieces only: incredible compositions. Free music listening: direct links to the music. New experiences: unknown emotions. Independency: only musical quality matters.

Contemporaryclassicals.com is mainly about “absolute” music that has no non-musical aspects or elements. We do not differentiate between music pieces based on awards, reviews, recognition, audiophile considerations, or the composer’s nationality, gender, age, background, orientation, etc. We focus on the emotional impact of the music (although this is not easily separable from an intellectual appreciation of the piece) based on our more than 25 years experience of modern and contemporary classical music and, naturally, our non-musician relatives’, friends’ and readers’ feedback. This is what artificial intelligence (AI) cannot do.

Most people don’t have enough time to read, especially about things they don’t know. Therefore, our captions can only serve to attract attention. The emotions evoked cannot be described in words anyway.

The site's development depends on the permission of the record labels and what pieces of music can continue to captivate us year after year.

Sincere thanks to the composers for their pieces of music, musicians for the performance and music companies for publishing modern classical music, and their permission.