2021 

string quartet: members of the eco ensemble
dir. david milnes

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tore is a linguistically ambiguous bit of typography. In both english and french it refers to the shape more commonly known as a torus. german speakers might see the plural of the word for gate, tor. in nynorsk, it carries associations of thunder. english-speaking audiences however, will most likely associate it with the preterite of tear. each definition contains something of the dialectic of presence and absence.

Duetto — "Tore" (III:ix)

string quartet: members of the eco ensemble
dir. david milnes

phaínei is a third-person form of the ancient greek φαίνω (phaínō) meaning to shine, to appear, and to reveal. in many modern languages, this can be recognized in the morpheme ‘pheno-.’

Trope — "Phaínei" (III:x)

2023

i.
ii.

written for and performed by hinge ensemble

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Besides its function as a generic title for this two movement work, Diptych also holds ecclesiastical connotations of—quite literally—taking stock of life and death. Like most physical diptychs, its two parts are connected by a “hinge.”

Diptych

Drawn from a variation of the prelude from Debussy's Suite Bergamasque. This is the third of four movements of my Little Piano Suite. 

Little Piano Suite- III: Focused

An Unspoken View Of Unresolved Symphonies (Live)

Originally for piano and alto, this setting of James Joyce's Poem from Chamber Music- No. 34 finds home in a lullaby of sleep not in rest, but momentary calm. 

Sleep now, O sleep now, O you unquiet heart!
A voice crying "Sleep now" Is heard in my heart.

The voice of the winter
Is heard at the door.
O sleep, for the winter
Is crying "Sleep no more."

My kiss will give peace now And quiet to your heart— Sleep on in peace now,
O you unquiet heart!

Sleep now, O sleep now, (Setting for Violin and Harp)

Live, 3/7/17

Ansolabehere, Wargelin, Bellisario, Papajohn

Three Etudes, I: Rondo

Three Etudes, III: Chaconne

Three Etudes, II: Aria

Fragment for Solo Violin

Music For 3 Objects (and their electronic replicas)

2019

for 12 instruments. Performed by the Northwestern University Contemporary Music Ensemble dir. Victor Minke Huls

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Catechumen refers to a person undergoing instruction in the doctrine of a faith to which they are converting, most often in the context of Catholicism. More generally however, it can mean a person receiving an elementary education in any subject.

The word comes from the Greek katēkhoumenos,“being instructed,” in turn from both kata (κατά) and ēkhos (ἠχή) meaning “downward” and “sound” respectively. 

The entire piece can be seen as an invention on two antipodal versions of this idea.

Catechumen

2020

Performed by Ensemble Dal Niente dir. Michael Lewanski

fl. Constance Volk
cl. Katie Schoepflin
vn. Minghuan Xu

for more information on the work:
https://georgepapajohn.com/2020/06/07/found-in-translation/

Andante Scherzoso

George Papajohn (b. 1998 Milwaukee) is a composer, improvisor, and multi-instrumentalist currently based in the San Francisco Bay Area. His recent work engages with latent tensions of identity held within the material, historical, and phenomenological aspects of sound. 

His music has been performed by Ensemble Dal Niente, the Northwestern University Contemporary Music Ensemble, and by frequent collaborators Cameron Roberts and Julia Ansolabehere. George earned his B.M. in music composition at the Northwestern University Bienen School of Music where he studied with Alex Mincek, Hans Thomalla, and Jay Alan Yim. He is currently pursuing a PhD in music composition at the University of California, Berkeley.

...for more recent music and updates, visit my website...

George Papajohn

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