Alban Berg (1885-1935) was an Austrian composer and one of the central figures of the Second Viennese School. A pupil of Arnold Schoenberg, he developed a language that brought twelve-tone and atonal techniques into contact with late Romantic expressiveness.

His major works include the operas Wozzeck and Lulu, the Lyric Suite, the Chamber Concerto and the Violin Concerto. Though his catalogue is relatively small, it contains some of the most powerful music of the twentieth century.

Berg’s music is remarkable for its fusion of structural rigour and emotional heat. Beneath the modernist surface lies an intense dramatic instinct, a feeling for human vulnerability, and a lingering connection to Mahlerian lyricism.

He remains one of modern music’s most persuasive voices, precisely because his technical innovations never feel merely technical. In Berg, the new language of the twentieth century learned to suffer, remember and sing.