John Alden Carpenter (1876-1951) was an American composer whose music brought together late Romantic craft, French colour and the rhythms of modern urban life. Born in Illinois, he balanced composition with a successful business career in Chicago.

His works include orchestral pieces, songs, piano music and ballet scores such as Krazy Kat and Skyscrapers. He also wrote the orchestral suite Adventures in a Perambulator, one of his most frequently remembered scores.

Carpenter’s music is polished, lyrical and cosmopolitan, often touched by impressionist harmony and American popular energy. He had a particular gift for turning city life, childhood scenes and modern movement into elegant musical images.

Though never a radical modernist, Carpenter helped broaden the language of early twentieth-century American concert music. His work sits comfortably where salon, street, theatre and symphony hall begin to overhear one another.