About John Supko
I write music for humans and computers, often together.
Sometimes I make software tools that help me slip the limits of my musical imagination.
The serendipity of collaboration has long interested me. I think of collaboration as a conversation in which I have to “say things differently…[and] say different things.”
I’m curious about the future, but a part of me will always live in the 20th century. I think there’s still more to learn from Surrealism: dreams, ambiguity, and the subconscious I find inexhaustibly alluring.
Sometimes I make software tools that help me slip the limits of my musical imagination.
The serendipity of collaboration has long interested me. I think of collaboration as a conversation in which I have to “say things differently…[and] say different things.”
I’m curious about the future, but a part of me will always live in the 20th century. I think there’s still more to learn from Surrealism: dreams, ambiguity, and the subconscious I find inexhaustibly alluring.
“Teaching” computers to make art and use language with some degree of autonomy has opened up new avenues of investigation, but these pathways can lead back just as easily to André Breton et al.
Computation is a form of automatic writing–or it can be. Some of my work exploits this possibility through generative processes. The computer’s memory is filled with huge amounts of raw material, which it fragments and recombines unpredictably according to layers of algorithms I design.
Computation is a form of automatic writing–or it can be. Some of my work exploits this possibility through generative processes. The computer’s memory is filled with huge amounts of raw material, which it fragments and recombines unpredictably according to layers of algorithms I design.
I teach at Duke University, where I am an associate professor in the Department of Music with a secondary appointment in Theater Studies.
I also teach in the Computational Media, Arts & Cultures program. I co-direct CMAC’s Emergence Lab with Bill Seaman.
I hold a BM from the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, and an MFA and a PhD from Princeton University.
I also teach in the Computational Media, Arts & Cultures program. I co-direct CMAC’s Emergence Lab with Bill Seaman.
I hold a BM from the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, and an MFA and a PhD from Princeton University.
Music
Biloxi Anapanasati︎
double bass, piano, percussion, & tape
One Hundred Thousand Billion Pieces
for Piano & Computer︎
piano & interactive electronics
Soleil Noir︎
string quartet
Music from Pig Film︎
electroacoustic score & sound design for the film by Josh Gibson
THE OPER&︎
opera for 8 voices, generative electronics, & video
Naples ultra︎
tape
Divine the Rest︎
mixed quintet & generative electronics
L’Imitation du sommeil︎
concerto for guitar, countertenor, chamber orchestra,
& generative electronics
s_traits︎
generative electronic album
bearings_traits︎
generative music system used to create s_traits
The Devouring Shore︎
percussion quartet & generative electronics
A Free Invention for George Pitcher︎
generative electronics
FLESH︎
piano & generative electronics
USINE︎
mixed sextet & generative electronics
Inland Ocean︎
string quartet & generative electronics
This City︎
piano & generative electronics
This Window Makes Me Feel︎
mezzo-soprano, alto flute, percussion, keyboards, 5.1 tape, & video
Littoral︎
flutes, percussion, 5.1 tape, & video
Into the Night︎
oboe, electric guitar, double bass, piano, percussion
Songs of a Landloper︎
song cycle for soprano & chamber ensemble
Banking︎
string quartet & tape
Dream Cuisine︎
cantata for voices, string quartet, keyboards, & percussion
The Correspondence︎
chamber orchestra & electronics
Mœurs de Césure︎
cello & piano, with seven poems by Philippe Denis
Without Stopping︎
open instrumentation & three Discmans on shuffle
Straits︎
percussion duo
A Song for Sinking︎
live improvisation on Magnus chord organ with electronics
Everybody Says Everything︎
electric guitar quartet & tape
double bass, piano, percussion, & tape
One Hundred Thousand Billion Pieces
for Piano & Computer︎
piano & interactive electronics
Soleil Noir︎
string quartet
Music from Pig Film︎
electroacoustic score & sound design for the film by Josh Gibson
THE OPER&︎
opera for 8 voices, generative electronics, & video
Naples ultra︎
tape
Divine the Rest︎
mixed quintet & generative electronics
L’Imitation du sommeil︎
concerto for guitar, countertenor, chamber orchestra,
& generative electronics
s_traits︎
generative electronic album
bearings_traits︎
generative music system used to create s_traits
The Devouring Shore︎
percussion quartet & generative electronics
A Free Invention for George Pitcher︎
generative electronics
FLESH︎
piano & generative electronics
USINE︎
mixed sextet & generative electronics
Inland Ocean︎
string quartet & generative electronics
This City︎
piano & generative electronics
This Window Makes Me Feel︎
mezzo-soprano, alto flute, percussion, keyboards, 5.1 tape, & video
Littoral︎
flutes, percussion, 5.1 tape, & video
Into the Night︎
oboe, electric guitar, double bass, piano, percussion
Songs of a Landloper︎
song cycle for soprano & chamber ensemble
Banking︎
string quartet & tape
Dream Cuisine︎
cantata for voices, string quartet, keyboards, & percussion
The Correspondence︎
chamber orchestra & electronics
Mœurs de Césure︎
cello & piano, with seven poems by Philippe Denis
Without Stopping︎
open instrumentation & three Discmans on shuffle
Straits︎
percussion duo
A Song for Sinking︎
live improvisation on Magnus chord organ with electronics
Everybody Says Everything︎
electric guitar quartet & tape
Essays & Other Writings
Essays & Other Writings
Anticipation: Some Notes ︎
Appears in “Handbook of Anticipation” (Springer Nature Switzerland AG, 2019), 137-162.
Notes on Christian Marclay’s “Surround Sounds”︎ My contribution to a panel on Christian Marclay’s work at Duke’s Nasher Museum of Art, September 2019
The Easy Speech of the Land︎Appears on Naxos Musicology International, an online platform for music scholarship and opinion, December 2019
How I Taught My Computer to Write Its Own Music ︎Appears in the 2013 “Information” issue of Nautilus, an online science magazine
Pig Film song lyrics︎
Texts co-written with Josh Gibson
THE OPER&: Complete Texts︎
Libretto co-written with Bill Seaman
Should Composers Read Music Critics?︎ Appears on NewMusicBox; co-written with Jeffrey Edelstein
[TITLE]︎
Appears on NewMusicBox; co-written with Jeffrey Edelstein
Para-composition︎
Appears on NewMusicBox; co-written with Jeffrey Edelstein
Unbroken Art︎
Appears on NewMusicBox; co-written with Jeffrey Edelstein
Recent ‘Voyages, Navigations, Traffiques, and Discoveries’︎Reflections on my recent music ca. 2012
Inland Ocean: Complete Texts ︎
Texts from the string quartet
Text for s_traits︎
Recombinant poem by Bill Seaman for the album
Notes on Christian Marclay’s “Surround Sounds”︎ My contribution to a panel on Christian Marclay’s work at Duke’s Nasher Museum of Art, September 2019
The Easy Speech of the Land︎Appears on Naxos Musicology International, an online platform for music scholarship and opinion, December 2019
How I Taught My Computer to Write Its Own Music ︎Appears in the 2013 “Information” issue of Nautilus, an online science magazine
Pig Film song lyrics︎
Texts co-written with Josh Gibson
THE OPER&: Complete Texts︎
Libretto co-written with Bill Seaman
Should Composers Read Music Critics?︎ Appears on NewMusicBox; co-written with Jeffrey Edelstein
[TITLE]︎
Appears on NewMusicBox; co-written with Jeffrey Edelstein
Para-composition︎
Appears on NewMusicBox; co-written with Jeffrey Edelstein
Unbroken Art︎
Appears on NewMusicBox; co-written with Jeffrey Edelstein
Recent ‘Voyages, Navigations, Traffiques, and Discoveries’︎Reflections on my recent music ca. 2012
Inland Ocean: Complete Texts ︎
Texts from the string quartet
Text for s_traits︎
Recombinant poem by Bill Seaman for the album
Reviews & Interviews
Reviews & Interviews
...one of the most accessible adventurers in musical exploration today.
–Thought Catalog
–Thought Catalog
Praise for divine the rest:
The album's most hypnotic setting is clearly Supko's “divine the rest” in the way it merges the group's playing with spoken fragments (assembled via computer, the text consists of extemporaneous utterances arranged in accordance with grammatical rules), field recording samples, drones, and sine-tone textures. A remarkable exercise in dream-like entrancement, the eleven-minute piece mesmerizes, especially when its words are more whispered than spoken.–TexturaSpeaking of dreams, John Supko’s “Divine the Rest” is nothing short of a mesmerizing daze. It immerses the listener in an ambient electroacoustic soundscape, with calm narration whispering over sparse instrumentation. Each and every note gently rings over the surrounding static to create a slowly shifting musical landscape. –Second Inversion
Praise for s_traits:
This hypnotic disc is derived from more than 110 hours of audio sourced from field recordings, digital noise, documentaries and piano music. A software program developed by the composer John Supko juxtaposed samples from the audio database into multitrack compositions; he and the media artist Bill Seaman then finessed the computer’s handiwork into these often eerily beautiful tracks.–The New York TimesThe composer John Supko has collaborated with the media artist Bill Seaman to create this hypnotic disc, derived from more than 110 hours of audio sourced from (among other things) field recordings, digital noise, 1960s documentaries and piano music. A software program developed by Mr. Supko juxtaposed samples from the audio database into multitrack compositions; the duo then finessed the computer’s handiwork into these trancelike, emotive and eerily beautiful tracks.–The New York Times
Seaman, Supko, and their circuitry transform more than 100 hours of old tapes and aural detritus into a suite of perky, jittery miniatures, confounding and intoxicating at once.–The Boston Globe
With s_traits, John Supko and Bill Seaman have relied on software to help spin a huge tangle of material into a dense, rich fabric of sound. To be so immersed in material requires the composers to give up a degree of agency, it is true, but this does not preclude originality or invention. The reward is to find the potential for surprise in the material itself. As the last lines of Seaman’s text have it, “the code from beneath drives the lines / mercurial as the light.”–The Brooklyn Rail
John Supko has designed a generative computer programme that can sift through a database of existing sounds and music, the rhythmic pulse of one piece acting as a frame around which the melodic or harmonic contours of another might find a new home. “Out From The Straits” is one of 26 tiny vignettes included on s_traits, his collaboration with sound-artist Bill Seaman. Music is normally created with the intention of projecting a potent and recognisable identity; but this piece, created by a coincidence of computer code, feels fascinating, anonymous and out of focus.–The Guardian
Bill Seaman ist der erste echte „digital Native“ in der Musik. Seine Stücke sind niemals fertig, für immer Übergangsstufen zwischen Sample und Komposition, Remix und Original. Auch für diese Kollaboration mit dem Komponisten John Supko steht die Vorstellung von „Musik als Prozess“ zentral: Aus über 100 Stunden Material entstanden 26 zwei- bis dreiminütige Tracks, jeder von einem kurzen Vocal-Sample angekündigt. Mysteriöser Ambient, experimentelle Klangkunst und verfremdete Neoklassik sind Eckpfeiler. Doch werden de Grenzen zwischen den Stilrichtungen zunehmend aufgeweicht. Ein Album, das eine wahrhaft neue Perspektive zur Musik sucht und findet.–Beat Magazin (DE)
Un disque beau et intéressant de musique générative... ou presque. Bill Seaman et John Supko ont créé une vaste collection d’échantillons sonores, puis un logiciel capable de la naviguer pour choisir et combiner des sons afin de composer des morceaux multipistes. Ces morceaux, ils les ont ensuite retravaillés chacun de leur côté. On a donc 26 morceaux d’à peu près trois minutes, sans savoir qui a “composé” quoi au final. Et il s’agit de musiques alliant électronique et musique de chambre. C’est délicat, chantant à sa façon, créatif, différent mais accessible. Le projet dans son ensemble (j’ai sauté bien des détails, mais sachez qu’un poème est inscrit dans ses gènes) offre une cohésion remarquable.–Monsieur Délire (QC)
Praise for USINE:
On se trouvait emporté, fasciné par la variété des instruments utilisés – qui pensait que l’on pouvait jouer de la pive? …La dernière heure de cet exceptionnel concert s’est terminée en explosion musicale, riche, émouvante aussi. –La Liberté (Fribourg,CH)Praise for drawn only once:
Everything about about Drawn Only Once, an impeccably designed CD/DVD by the duo Due East that feature's Supko's pieces, is spellbindingly beautiful.–TimeOut New York (5 stars)
…the young American composer's music fascinates, like an accumulating weather system. His intricate soundscapes reveal more with each hearing.
–San Jose Mercury News (Best of 2011 list)
Birdlike flute sounds range from agitated repetition to dissonant outbursts and a more relaxed seagull-like call, while percussion (often electronic) busily colors Supko's absorbing world. –New Jersey Star-Ledger
Praise for Into the Night:
John Supkos „Into the Night“ (2005) für E-Gitarre, Oboe, Klavier, Schlagzeug und Kontrabass avanciert zum Höhepunkt des Abends.–Die Badische Zeitung (Freiburg-im-Breisgau,DE)
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