Paul Novak

The “spellbinding” (Washington Post) music of Chicago-based composer Paul Novak immerses listeners in shimmering and subtly crafted musical worlds full of color, motion, light, and magic. His recent projects engage with dreams and memory, queer identity, climate change and the natural world, and psychosomatic illness.

Novak’s 25/26 season includes premieres and performances by Orchestra of St. Luke’s, International Contemporary Ensemble, Chicago Composers Orchestra, the JACK, Formosa, Balourdet, and Varo Quartets, ZOFO, Blackbox Ensemble, and more. His recent projects include forest migrations, an orchestral piece commissioned by American Composers Orchestra inspired by the movement of forests around the world in response to environmental threats; impossible inventions, commissioned by Balourdet Quartet, which reimagines a string quartet as a series of fantastical sci-fi machines; and seven dreams about my body, a “stunning fantasia” (ICIYL) suite of microtonal interludes for Blackbox Ensemble inspired by his strange recurring dreams during the pandemic. Novak’s other recent collaborators include the Reno Philharmonic, Austin Symphony, Orlando Philharmonic, Civic Orchestra of Chicago, Grossman Ensemble, Music from Copland House, DanceWorks Chicago, Sandbox Percussion, Ekmeles, Quince Ensemble, Decoda, Earplay, Musiqa, Left Coast Ensemble, cellists Dmitri Atapine and Alexander Hersh, and Quatuor Diotima. His music has been heard at Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, New World Center, and Chicago’s Symphony Center.

Novak received several ASCAP Morton Gould Awards and BMI Composer Awards, including the top prize in both competitions; other recent honors include a Barlow Commission and Underwood Commission, and recognition from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, Martirano Award, SCI/ASCAP Competition, Red Note Competition, League of Composers/ISCM, Lake George Music Festival, and National Association of Composers of the USA. He has received fellowships from MacDowell, Aspen, Norfolk, Copland House, Millay, and I-Park, and was featured in the Washington Post’s “23 for ’23: Composers and Performers to Watch this Year,” where he was praised for his “impressive range and restless energy” in a catalog spanning “lithe, elastic vocal pieces…vibrant orchestral works…and evocative etudes for string quartet.”

Novak is the co-artistic director and flutist of Chicago-based ensemble Mycelium New Music, which launched its debut season in 2024. Mycelium is committed to creating exciting, multidisciplinary performances of contemporary music and supporting emerging voices in Chicago’s artistic ecosystem.
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Collaboration and interdisciplinarity are at the center of Novak’s creative practice, and his recent work has been driven by a passion for working with text, an attunement to the embodied experiences of musicians, and a fascination with collective, social aspects of performance. His work draws inspiration from literature, visual art, dance, and poetry, from biological and astronomical phenomena, and from history and myth. His recent projects have included collaborations with poets, visual artists, dancers, choreographers, and a spoken word artist.

Originally from Reno, NV, he completed his undergraduate studies at Rice University, and is currently a PhD candidate at the University of Chicago, where he studies with Augusta Read Thomas.