Elliott Schwartz (born 1936, New York City) studied composition at Columbia University. He is co-editor of the anthology Contemporary Composers on Contemporary Music, co-author of Music Since 1945, and the author of 'Electronic Music: A Listener's Guide', 'The Symphonies of Ralph Vaughan Williams' and 'Music: Ways of Listening'. He has also written essays and reviews for Perspectives of New Music, The Musical Quarterly, Musical America, Music and Musicians (England), Nordic Sounds (Denmark) and other publications. An archival collection of his papers, sketches and other materials was created at the Library of Congress in 2006.

Schwartz’s style is marked by a fondness for unsynchronized layers of activity (the musical equivalent of double exposure), highly dramatic – even theatrical – gestures, and brilliant instrumental colours. His juxtaposition of tonal passages and angular, modernist ones may create a sense of time warp, compounded by his penchant for quoting fragments of preexisting music. Many of his pieces are conceived as personal responses – to visual art, to preexisting works of music, to personal and historical events. The relatively abstract manipulation and presentation of materials may belie this connection to autobiographical “reality,” but it is present nonetheless.

The Kreutzer Quartet is the dedicatee of hundreds of new works, both collectively and as soloists. The Kreutzer Quartet comprises of Peter Sheppard Skærved, Mihailo Trandafilovski (violins), Morgan Goff (viola), Neil Heyde (cello)

Longbow is a virtuoso string ensemble made up some of the most adventurous virtuoso players in the UK. It focuses on the interface between string orchestra and string ensemble writing, and repertoire from the early 19th century to our time. The artistic directors of Longbow are Nigel Clarke and Peter Sheppard Skærved.