paul novak composer
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  • home
  • about
  • music
    • spotlight
    • list of works
  • media
  • events
  • press
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paul novak composer

list of works


​​music for large ensemble
          hildegard dreams of a garden (2025) for chamber orchestra (10')
          odes to the body unsung (2025) for 13 players (15')
          forest migrations (2024) for orchestra (10')
         longing is an aviary (2023) for orchestra (8')
         dialogues in color (2020/2022) for string orchestra, piano, and percussion (14')
         as the light begins to drift (2019/2020) for sinfonietta or chamber orchestra (12')
         on buoyancy (2016) for orchestra (7’)
         ​fractured night/blue stars (2015) for orchestra (5’)
​
music for small instrumental ensemble
         impossible inventions (2024) for string quartet (14')
         seven dreams about my body (2024) for pierrot sextet (16') 
         gardensongs (2024) for string quartet (11')​
         a dance is a kind of wish (2023) for cello and ensemble (10') 
         ornithology of desire (2023) for three piccolos and electronics (7')
         gravity dances (2023) for mixed septet (8')
         nothing moves in a straight line (2022) for percussion quartet (5')
         entwining (2021) for clarinet, violin, cello, and piano (8')
         prisms and mirrors (2021) for pierrot sextet (8')
         ​interlocutor (2021) for piano quartet (9')
         a string quartet is like a flock of birds (2020) for string quartet (14')
         to grow in lightness (2020) for viola, percussion, harp, and piano (15')
         glimmersongs (2020) for pierrot ensemble (8’)
         insurance interludes (2019) for clarinet (or alto saxophone), cello, and piano (12’)
         anatomies of fragile things (2018) for oboe, violin, and piano (8’)
         clenched fist/open palm (2018) for spoken word poet and small ensemble (5’)
         debussy palimpsest (2018) for flute, viola, and harp (8’)
         automata (2018) for percussion quartet (3’)
         lavender and gray (2018) for narrator and small ensemble (6’)
         figures in violet light (2018) for Thai traditional instruments (10’)
         marking punctuations (2018) for string quartet (20’)
         blimunda songs (2017) for pierrot ensemble (6’)
         broken geometries (2017) for reed quintet (6’)
         reliquary (2016) for oboe, string trio and harp (8’)
         je suis plus près de toi dans l’obscurité... (2016) for brass quintet (5’)
         six significant landscapes (2015-16) for narrator and ensemble (25’)
         into the towering darkness... (2015) for wind quintet (5’)

music for voices
         
when i was nine (2025) for soprano, clarinet, violin, cello, and piano (5')
         a diagnosis (2024/25) for soprano, mezzo-soprano, and sextet (12')
         many aches (2023) for mezzo-soprano and piano (10')
         ghost story (2022) for soprano, harp, and percussion or soprano and piano (8')
         birds, the binding of (2022) for high vocal quartet (8')
         dream catalog (2021) for soprano, mezzo-soprano, and percussion quartet (9')
         reflected tides (2021) for soprano and chamber ensemble (20')
         not of longing (2019) for soprano and contrabass (8’)
         “iv. see and touch” from popcorn songs (2019) for soprano and piano (2’)

music for solo or duo instruments
         
two dreams about water (2025) for piano four-hands (7')
         unruly clock etude (2025) for solo alto saxophone (2')

         variations with sand in the gears (2024) for singing cellist (7')
         phantom intermezzo (2021) for clarinet and piano (6')
         dances and prayers in isolation (2020) for various instrumentations (15')
         eventides (2020) for toy piano and melodica (1 player) (7')
         dialogues in black and white (2019) for solo piano (11’)
         blackout poetry (2017) for violin and piano (12’)
         three night pieces (2017) for flute and piano (12’)
         january fragments (2015) for solo piano (9’)
         soliloquy (2014) for solo viola (4’)
​
work in progress/upcoming projects 
       every song has an unsung third stanza for community speakers and string quartet (20')
               commissioned by Guarneri Hall as part of Formosa Quartet's American Mirror project - premiering March 2026 
       [new work] for saxophone quartet (10-15')
               commissioned by Nois Quartet for their Curiosity Series - premiering Fall 2026
       [new ballet]
 for chamber ensemble (10-15')
               commissioned by Balletcollective - premiering Fall 2026
       
[new work] for string quartet (6-8')
               commissioned by Sante Fe Chamber Music Festival for JACK Quartet through the Young Composers String Quartet Project - premiering Summer 2026
      two dreams of hysterics for voices and ensemble (5')
               for Blackbox Ensemble