Paul Beaudoin

Composer, ECU member since 2020
Born on 10.04.1960

https://paulbeaudoin.myportfolio.com/

Paul Beaudoin was born in Miami, Florida (USA), and received a scholarship to attend the University of Miami. Paul later moved to Boston, where he attended the New England Conservatory of Music and Brandeis University, where he received his PhD. His music has been performed internationally and released on several recordings. He has taught music and art at several institutions and has an interdisciplinary approach to creative work. After a decade of scholarly work in Estonia and a Fulbright Scholarship in 2015, he relocated to Tallinn, Estonia, in 2018.

Over the years, Paul has worked with many of the luminary composers of the 20th century – John Cage, Milton Babbitt, Morton Feldman, Michael Finnissy, and Martin Boykan. He was an active conductor of New Music in the Boston area and a member of the Boston section of the League ISCM.

Paul’s early work was deeply influenced by the serialist aesthetic and continues the American Academic school. His music is technically demanding, yet; it is always in the service of profound expression and drama. Many of his works employ razor-sharp musical language, but it is never without exceptional clarity, formal structure, and expressive content.

He has taught at Northeastern University, New England Conservatory of Music, Brandeis University, Rhode Island College, The Boston Conservatory, Fitchburg State University, Tallinn University and the Eesti Kunstiakadeemia.
His subjects are Music Composition and Theory, Beethoven, History of Jazz, Performance Art, History of Contemporary Art, Music and Art Appreciation, Skills in Classroom Teaching and Preparing Public Presentations. Beaudoin is an innovator in online education, having worked in this area since 2005. His teaching strategies have been publicly recognised and cited as best practices.

In addition to being an active composer, Paul is well known for his theoretical work and expertise in interdisciplinary studies. His interests span everything from popular culture and technology to esoteric musical aesthetics. He is active as a writer, critic, and public speaker for music and the arts. He is as ready to talk about the mathematical structures of György Ligeti’s music as he is the films of the Fluxus movement or the musical explorations of Björk. His written work appears in many publications covering music, the arts, education, and the philosophy of creativity.  His video essay on John Cage, Robert Rauschenberg, Stefan Wolpe and Bill Viola is in the Journal of Black Mountain College Studies (forthcoming, 2022).

While most of his professional life has focused on music, Paul is also an internationally established visual artist, writer, educator, and public speaker.

Since leaving academia, Paul has worked fluidly with aspects of minimalism, serialism, drone/ambient sound, and sonic installations, a broader expansion of his expressive palette. His music is likely to be heard in an art gallery as a concert hall. As an interdisciplinary artist, Beaudoin often turns to video, painting, or the written word as ways to continue his musical thought.

Paul has received commissions and performances from the Lydian String Quartet, Fenwick Smith (flutist for the Boston Symphony Orchestra), Guy Livingston (for Wergo Records), Ian Pace (City University London), Wellesley Composers Conference New Music Ensemble, Dance Department at Tallinn University, Heaven’s Trumpet. Sound Installations at the Pirita Convent, Lembitu 5, Eesti Kaasaegse Kunsti Muuseum, Heino Eller Music School, Tallinn University, and performances by movement artist Kaspar Aus.  Recordings of his music are on WERGO Records, Canadian ElectroAcoustic Recordings,  Heaven’s Trumpet, Mare Nostrum, Ambient Music Online, and Bandcamp.

Additional information:

Wikipedia
Fitchburgstate Aacademia
Instagram