John Corigliano (New York, 1938), winner of the Academy Award for Best Original Score for The Red Violin, is a leading figure within contemporary classical music and one of the most important symphonists of our era.

His body of work includes three symphonies of notable acclaim, each conceived as a landscape unto itself:
Symphony No. 1 (1991) - deeply shaped by the AIDS crisis, transforms a personal experience of loss into a score of immense expressive power; it has been widely performed across the globe and earned him the prestigious Grawemeyer Award.
Symphony No. 2 (2001) - derived from his String Quartet, received the Pulitzer Prize for Music.
Symphony No. 3: Circus Maximus (2004) - an ambitious work scored simultaneously for wind orchestra and a multitude of wind ensembles; it has enjoyed considerable international acclaim since its premiere.

The theatricality inherent in his creative language is particularly evident in his concertante works. The composer of ten concertos, Corigliano has explored the genre from innovative perspectives, as in Triathlon (2022), in which the soloist performs on three different instruments, and Conjurer (2008), for percussion and string orchestra. Also of notable mention are the violin concerto The Red Violin (2005), based on his celebrated film score, and works such as Vocalise (2000), a wordless concerto for voice, orchestra and electronics, and Pied Piper Fantasy (1982). His Oboe Concerto (1975) and Clarinet Concerto (1977) marked a turning point in his career. It was here when he first used the "architectural" method of composing which empowers him to forge a strikingly wide range of musical materials into arches of compelling aural logic.

After thirty years away from the opera stage, Corigliano has returned to the form with The Lord of Cries (2021), a surreal fantasy retelling the story of Euripides’ The Bacchae with the characters of Bram Stoker’s Dracula. The Lord of Cries followed The Ghosts of Versailles (1991), commissioned by the Metropolitan Opera and widely regarded as one of the most significant operatic works of its time, praised by critics and audiences alike.

Corigliano's other major vocal works show a comparably lavish and powerful sense of vocal theatre, these include Mr. Tambourine Man: Seven Poems of Bob Dylan (2000), which won a Grammy Award, and One Sweet Morning (2011), a musical reflection on war and hope. He has also produced a substantial body of chamber music, notably his Grammy-winning String Quartet (1995) and the Sonata for Violin and Piano (1964), now firmly established in the repertoire.

Corigliano has combined his creative work with a distinguished career in teaching. He has served on the composition faculty at the Juilliard School of Music and held the position of Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Music at Lehman College, City University of New York. His music—blending tradition and innovation with powerful expressive force—continues to occupy centre stage across the globe.