The aim of this biographical dictionary is to treat each composer, and particularly those living, in depth; to provide heart, flesh and sinews to the bare bones of biographical information available in existing dictionaries and encyclopedias; to gather details and specifics that should, once and for all, be permanently recorded for the present and preserved for the future. This dictionary also aspires to embrace in each biography a succinct description of each composer's musical style together with a coup d'oeil on how that style grew and developed. At the same time, it hopes to provide descriptions (programmatic and/or musical) of some of the composer's major works. - Foreword.