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 has been commissioned by and collaborated with orchestras, chamber ensembles, and musicians around the world. He has received awards from the Barlow Foundation, ASCAP, BMI, American Academy of Arts and Letters, Fromm Foundation, Underwood/Earshot, and others. He is the co-artistic director and flutist of Chicago-based ensemble Mycelium New Music, and is a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Chicago. Novak is the 2026-2029 Composer in Residence of the California Symphony. He is working on a concert-length song cycle inspired by a childhood diagnosis with a psychosomatic illness.
At MacDowell, Novak completed a sinfonietta piece called ship of theseus variations which will be premiered by Alarm Will Sound in July 2026, and began work on a new commission for dance company Balletcollective.
