$re = '/\(.+\)/';
$str = 'a href="/lieder/get_settings.html?ComposerId=24210" class="">Aaron, Marcelle-Marguerite</a> (1884 - 1956)';
preg_match($re, $str, $matches, PREG_OFFSET_CAPTURE, 0);
// Print the entire match result
var_dump($matches);
Please keep in mind that these code samples are automatically generated and are not guaranteed to work. If you find any syntax errors, feel free to submit a bug report. For a full regex reference for PHP, please visit: http://php.net/manual/en/ref.pcre.php