A few decades ago it would have been easier to present Magyar music by speaking of groups and workshops that at that time actively worked together, but today each has chosen his own individual direction. Now, one can outline the situation as it stands only by generational analysis. The composers born in the '30s and productive in the '60s were the first to have the possibility of freeing themselves both from the strong influence of Bartók and Kodály and from the cutlural politics of communist dictatorship of the '50s-- therefore, free to find out about musical events in the world in a more relaxed atmosphere. This generation promised a new avant-garde music, a new Hungarian musical school. Its representatives , Sándor Balassa, Attila Bozay, Zsolt Durkó, Emil Petrovics, József Soproni, Sándor Szokolay - defined the character of Hungarian music of the '60s - '70s and met with success even at an international level, especially at the festival "Tribute Internationale des Compositeurs" of Paris, patronized by UNESCO.

Each of these composers has also written important operas. The operas of Durkó and Soproni especially, show a stylistic unity. Others, like Balassa or Szokolay, for example, returned to the conservative form they used in the '50s. János Decsényi (b. 1927) uses a unique style in his works which mixes together electro-aucustic sounds with traditional instrumental ones, and which gets its drive from his devotion to Hungarian literature. József Sári (b. 1935) composes mainly instrumental chamber music and his style, in some aspects, shows some affinity to György Ligeti's.

The Uj Zenei Studió ( New Musical Study), founded in 1970 and inspired by the new American music (John Cage, Christian Wolf) and also introducing philosophy of the Orient, brought a new tendency of a marked avant-garde nature to Hungarian musical life. Each member of the Studio follows his own personal direction. Zoltán Jeney integrates the traditions of Gregorian chants and folk music in the language of modern music. Lászlo Sáry (b. 1940) is a master of musical games and of the stage, Lászlo Vidovszky (b.1944) works mainly with electronic music and computerized mechanical piano, the asceticism of Barnabás Dukay (b. 1950), on the other hand, represents a phenomenon totally unique in the life of Hungarian music. Peter Eotvos (b. 1944), first member of the Uj Zenei Studió, today is a well-known conductor specialized in contemporary music. Other important conductors include Lászlo Tihanyi, of French orientation and noted for his exceptional knowledge of musical technique, and Zsolt Serei who had also passed through the Uj Zenei Studió.

The neotonal postmodern tendency finds its followers in the middle-age generation: the group of composers "Negyek" (the Four) with György Orbán, János Vajda, György Selmeczi, Miklós Csermiczky. The most well-known works of Orbán (b. 1947) are the Masses and choral works, but the best are the songs accompanied by solo instrument. Vajda (b. 1949) is an impassioned composer of opera and draws his inspiration from the works of Thomas Mann and Georg Büchner. In the generation of thirty-year-olds, the following composers stand out: Béla Faragó who was raised with repetitive music and jazz, Adám Kondor, who constructs his music with small, expressive forms, and Géza Gémesi, who was not very productive but often had a very tragic style.