Brian Ferneyhough (born in 1941 in Coventry) is a British modernist composer who is most closely associated with the "New Complexity" trend of the late 20th century, by virtue of compositions that feature great density, intense dissonance, and virtuosic intricacy. A post-serialist and unrepentant avant-garde composer in opposition to neo-Romanticism, Ferneyhough seldom uses single tone rows but uses the total chromatic in his elaborate structures, though his nervous gestural shapes and contrapuntal textures seem indistinguishable from those of the most complicated works of the serial school. Ferneyhough is equally famous as a teacher, with students including Kaija Saariaho and Magnus Lindberg.