Composers are very individual creatures.

For years, my favorite composers had been Monteverdi and Bach. Then I began to rediscover the 19th century, see it from another perspective.

— Krzysztof Penderecki

Usually composers need a reason to write. I need a deadline.

— Krzysztof Penderecki

At school, I wrote in the style of the Dutch composers. After I graduated, a new style set in.

— Krzysztof Penderecki

It would have been more obvious to go into film, based on the generation before me, but the generation before them were all composers…

— Robert Coppola Schwartzman

I think we have a lot in common with classical composers of the 19th century, although I'm not claiming to have their intelligence. They…

— Matt Bellamy

In Hollywood, the rainbow hits the ground for composers.

— Hoagy Carmichael

The more dollars the studio producers put in, the less freedom we have. If the budget hits $100m, they get scared - they'll take…

— A. R. Rahman

There's still a lot I need to do as a player, as a musician, as a sound creator. I have commissioned 170 pieces: that's…

— Evelyn Glennie

Men have been in the forefront of music for centuries, and they have written glorious music, loved and appreciated by many. In some ways,…

— Barbara Harbach

As far as rock groups, I really like Stone Temple Pilots. As for classical composers, it's Bach. I love Paganini, too, the Italian composer…

— Matt Schulze

As improvisers, we're acting as composers in front of people.

— Kurt Elling

I always loved the motion picture scores and the great film composers like Elmer Bernstein.

— Frank Sinatra Jr

Not many composers have ideas. Far more of them know how to use strange instruments which do not require ideas.

— George Gershwin

Nobody can give a good performance unless the authors and composers have written a good part, a fact which is often overlooked.

— Judy Holliday

There are no black film composers doing the likes of Star Wars, doing the likes of E.T., doing the likes of Jurassic Park. There…

— J. J. Johnson