Biography (November 2004)
Tom Johnson, born in Colorado in 1939, received B.A. and M.Mus. degrees
from Yale University, and studied composition privately with Morton
Feldman. After 15 years in New York, he moved to Paris, where he has
lived since 1983. He is considered a minimalist, since he works with
simple forms, limited scales, and generally reduced materials, but he
proceeds in a more logical way than most minimalists, often using
formulas, permutations, and predictable sequences.
Johnson is well known for his operas: The Four Note Opera (1972)
continues to be presented in many countries. Riemannoper has been
staged more than 20 times in German-speaking countries since its
premier in Bremen in 1988. Often played non-operatic works include
Bedtime Stories, Rational Melodies, Music and Questions, Counting
Duets, Tango, Narayana's Cows, and Failing: a very difficult piece for
solo string bass.
His largest composition, the Bonhoeffer Oratorium, a two-hour work in
German for orchestra, chorus, and soloists, with text by the German
theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer, was premiered in Maastricht in 1996,
and has since been presented in Berlin and New York.
Johnson has also written numerous radio pieces, such as J'entends un
choeur (commissioned by Radio France for the Prix Italia, 1993), Music
and Questions (also available on an Australian Broadcasting Company CD)
and Die Melodiemaschinen, premiered by WDR Radio in Cologne in January
1996. The most recent radio piece is A Time to Listen, premiered by the
Irish national radio in 2004.
The principal recordings currently available on CD are the Musique pour
88 (1988) (XI), An Hour for Piano (1971) (Lovely Music), The Chord
Catalogue (1986) (XI), Organ and Silence (2000) (Ants), and Kientzy
Plays Johnson (2004) (Pogus).
The Voice of New Music, a collection of articles written 1971-1982 for
the Village Voice, published by Apollohuis in 1989, is now in the
public domain and can be downloaded at www.tom.johnson.org.
Self-Similar Melodies, a theoretical book in English, was published by
Editions 75 in 1996.
Recent projects include Tilework, a series of 14 pieces for solo
instruments, published by Editions 75 in 2003, Same or Different, a
piece commissioned by the Dutch radio in 2004, and the Combinations for
String Quartet, premiered in Berlin on the MärzMusik festival in
2004. As performer he frequently plays his Galileo, a 45-minute piece
written for a self-invented percussion instrument.
Johnson received the French national prize in the victoires de la musique in 2001 for Kientzy Loops.