Marcus Paus facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Marcus Paus
Born	(1979-10-14) 14 October 1979 (age 45) Oslo, Norway
Occupation	Composer
Spouse(s)	Tirill Mohn
Parents	Ole Paus (father) Anne-Karine Strøm (mother)
Signature

Marcus Nicolay Paus (born 14 October 1979) is a famous Norwegian composer. He is known as one of the most popular modern composers in Scandinavia. Marcus Paus writes music that often uses traditional tonality (which means it has a clear musical key) and melody (a tune you can hum). Critics in Norway and other countries really like his work.

His music includes many different types, like chamber music (for small groups of instruments), choral works (for choirs), solo pieces, concerts, orchestral music, operas, symphonies, and church music. He also writes music for theatre, movies, and TV shows. People often call him "one of Norway's most celebrated classical composers" and "the leading Norwegian composer of his generation."

Marcus Paus sees himself as a "musical dramatist" or a storyteller through music. Even though his music often has clear tunes and keys, he uses both old and new musical techniques. Some of his works are inspired by folk music and music from other cultures. He likes to call himself a "melodist" because melody is so important to him. He believes music should be open to many different styles. In 2022, the Norwegian Armed Forces asked him to create a big piece of music to help build identity and unity for them.

Marcus Paus has put poems and writings by many famous authors to music, including Dorothy Parker, W. B. Yeats, Oscar Wilde, William Shakespeare, and Anne Frank. His church music includes O Magnum Mysterium and Requiem. He is one of the few Norwegian composers who writes modern operas, and he has created several operas for children with his father, Ole Paus. He also co-hosts a podcast called Paus og Castle blir kloke på musikklivet (Paus and Castle Figure Out Music Life) with musician Kim Morten Mohn.

Early Life and Family

Marcus Paus was born in Oslo, Norway. His father is Ole Paus, a well-known singer-songwriter, and his mother is Anne-Karine Strøm, a former pop star. He grew up in the Røa area of Oslo.

His grandfather, General Ole Paus, was an important figure in the Norwegian military during World War II. He helped start the Norwegian Intelligence Service. Marcus Paus's family has a long history in Norway, going back to the 1600s. They were important people in the region, like judges and priests. Later, some family members became successful merchants and industrialists. The famous playwright Henrik Ibsen was a distant relative of Marcus Paus's family.

In 2019, Marcus Paus married Tirill Mohn, who is also a composer and singer. She used to be in the band White Willow.

Musical Journey

Marcus Paus went to the Oslo Waldorf School. In high school, his music teacher, composer Trygve Madsen, greatly influenced him. He also took summer classes in Hollywood in the mid-1990s. As a teenager, he played progressive rock guitar and was even listed in The Guinness Book of Records as the world's fastest guitarist for a time! He stopped playing progressive rock around 1997.

From 1998 to 2002, he studied at the Norwegian Academy of Music. He was one of the youngest students ever accepted into their composer program at age 18. After graduating, he moved to New York City and studied classical composition at the Manhattan School of Music from 2003 to 2005.

Marcus Paus became a well-known young composer in 2008 with his work Missa Concertante. His first opera, The Witches, also came out that year. From 2011 to 2016, he lived and worked in Berlin before returning to Norway. He has been a member of the Norwegian Society of Composers since 2005.

Musical Style and Influences

Marcus Paus is known for bringing back traditional musical ideas like tonality and melody. While his music often has clear tunes and keys, he uses many different techniques, both old and new. This includes aleatoricism (where some parts are left to chance) and serial procedures.

His music often has complex harmonies, mixing traditional chords with more modern sounds. Some of his works are inspired by folk music from different cultures, like Bulgarian folk music in "Lasuliansko Horo" and Chinese music in "A Portrait of Zhou." His teenage experience as a progressive rock guitarist also shows up in some of his energetic pieces. He is also influenced by film music and admires composers like John Williams and Maurice Ravel.

When he was younger, Marcus Paus described his style as "cultural conservative non-modernist." However, he later said he supports many different musical styles and welcomes tradition-inspired music. He has been called a "lyrical modernist" or a "postmodern composer" because he combines modern ideas with traditional beauty. He believes that melody is a powerful way to communicate feelings and memories.

Paus says that "words are my passion." He loves setting poetry to music and sees music as a way to add deeper meaning and symbolism to words. Music experts describe him as a "prolific, versatile, and highly communicative contemporary composer." They note that his music uses traditional harmonies and forms but also has his own unique, expressive style. Edward Green, a musicologist, calls Paus "the leading Norwegian composer of his generation."

Works and Collaborations

Marcus Paus is known for writing music that is challenging but also sounds natural for the instruments. He has worked with many top Norwegian musicians, including violinists Henning Kraggerud and Arve Tellefsen.

He often collaborates with other artists, especially the Swedish painter Christopher Rådlund and his father, Ole Paus, who wrote the stories for several of his operas. He has also worked with film directors and dancers.

Paus has set to music poems and writings by many famous authors, including Dorothy Parker, W. B. Yeats, Oscar Wilde, William Shakespeare, and Anne Frank. His four string quartets (music for four string instruments) are all inspired by paintings from artists like Edvard Munch.

His choral work The Stolen Child (2009), based on a poem by William Butler Yeats, was praised internationally. It was even nominated for a Grammy Award.

Paus's work The Beauty That Still Remains, based on text by Anne Frank, was commissioned by the Government of Norway in 2015 to remember the end of World War II. This work received great reviews, with one critic calling it "extraordinarily beautiful."

His Concerto for Timpani and Orchestra (a piece for timpani drums and orchestra) caused a big discussion about art music in Norway. Some people saw its energetic parts as a link to Paus's teenage days as a rock guitarist.

In 2018, his album Portraying Passion: Works by Weill/Paus/Ives, which included his Hate Songs based on poems by Dorothy Parker, won the Spellemannprisen (the Norwegian Grammy Award) for best classical album. Critics loved Hate Songs, calling it "captivatingly orchestrated" and "a coup that provides an immense listening pleasure."

Marcus Paus has written several children's operas, including The Witches (based on Roald Dahl) and The Ash-Lad – Pål's Story, both with his father. His children's opera Children of Ginko premiered in Shanghai in 2020.

His church music includes the popular O Magnum Mysterium (2007) and Requiem (2014), which he wrote with his father.

In 2020, Paus released the song cycle Good Vibes in Bad Times, which uses texts by Donald Trump turned into poems. Paus said it was a way to look at the texts from a more human perspective.

His music for the film Mortal (2020) was highly praised, with one critic saying it was "likely to be remembered as the breakthrough of a superb ‘new’ talent." He was nominated for an Amanda Award and a HARPA Award for this work.

In 2022, the Norwegian Armed Forces asked Paus to write a major piece about the recipients of Norway's highest honor, the War Cross. This was the largest commission ever for Norwegian military music. During the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, Paus wrote the song "Slava Ukraini!" as a song of resistance. He said the song seemed to connect with many people, even those in the middle of the conflict.

Other Activities

Since 2021, Marcus Paus has co-hosted a podcast called Paus og Castle blir kloke på musikklivet with his brother-in-law, Kim Morten Mohn (also known as Kim Castle). In 2021, Paus also played an electric guitar solo on a song by the electronic duo detdusa. This was his first time performing as a musician since the 1990s.

Selected Works

Orchestral works

• The War Cross (Krigskorset) (2023), for the Norwegian Armed Forces
• Tuba Mirum (2021), for the Oslo Philharmonic and tubist August Schieldrop
• Decameron: Concerto Rifugio (2020)
• Love's Last Rites (2017)
• Concerto for Timpani and Orchestra (2015), for the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra
• Hate Songs for Mezzo-soprano & Orchestra (2013–14), text: Dorothy Parker
• Music for Orchestra (2012)
• A Portrait of Zhou (Concertino for Flute & Orchestra) (2012)
• Triple Concerto for Violin, Viola & Orchestra (2011)
• Two Lyrical Pieces (2007)
• Ave Mozart! (2006)

Choral works

• Litanies (2021), text by Siegfried Sassoon
• No Search, No Rescue (2017), text by Palestinian poet Jehan Bseiso
• The Day of Wrath Shall Come (2017), text by Thomas of Celano
• Free is the Land (2016), text by Ole Paus
• The Beauty That Still Remains (2015), based on The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank
• Dies Irae (2014), text by Heidi Køhn
• And Now Abide (2012)
• The Stolen Child (2009), text: W. B. Yeats
• Missa Concertante (2008)
• O magnum mysterium (2007)
• The Dome & the River (2006)

Operas and stage works

• Children of Ginko / Frøbarna (2017–18), chamber opera, libretto by Oda Fiskum
• Hate Songs for Mezzo-soprano & Orchestra (2013–14), text: Dorothy Parker
• Spelet om Christian Frederik (2014)
• Eli Sjursdotter (2013–14), libretto by Ola Jonsmoen
• The Teacher Who Was Not To Be (Læreren som ikke ble) (2013), libretto by Olav Anton Thommessen
• The Ash-Lad – Pål's Story (Askeladden – Påls versjon) (2010–11), libretto by Ole Paus, based on Askeladden
• The Wild Choir (2009), text by Knut Hamsun
• The Witches (Heksene) (2007–08), libretto by Ole Paus, based on the novel by Roald Dahl

Chamber works

• Two Eldritch Songs for Voice (Tenor) & Piano (2021)
• Fragments from Sappho (2020)
• Sonata for Violin & Piano (2020)
• Songs from Shiraz (2020)
• The Song and the Catastrophe (2018), text by Ulrik Farestad
• Confessions (2018), text by André Bjerke
• Never (2017), text by André Bjerke
• Everyday Miracle (2017), text by André Bjerke
• Room Mates (2017), text by Ulrik Farestad
• Late Summer Songs (2017), text by Jan Erik Vold
• The Yearning of Things (2017), text by André Bjerke
• Love Songs (2016), text by Dorothy Parker
• Music to Hear (Sonnet VIII) (2016), text by William Shakespeare
• Sonata for Double Bass and Piano (2016)
• The Harvesting (2016), text by Edvard Munch
• Afterplay: Eternity's Gaze (2015), text by Ole Paus
• Fanfare for Two Violins (2015)
• Requiem (2014), text by Ole Paus
• Screwing Britten (2013)
• String Quartet no. 4 ‘Ashes’ (2013)
• Sonata for Cello & Piano (2009)
• String Quartet no.3 (2006)
• Trio for Clarinet, Violin & Piano (2006)
• Lasuliansko Horo for Violin & Piano (2004)

Solo works

• Slava Ukraini! (2022; composed during the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine)
• Good Vibes in Bad Times (2020)
• Decameron: Concerto Rifugio (2020)
• Intimations (2020)
• Cabin Fever (2020)
• The Waters of Vinje (Souvenir d'un Voyage) (2019)
• Intrada for Solo Oboe (2018)
• Kleiberg Variations for Solo Piano (2018)
• Mathias' Song for Solo Piano (2018)
• Sarabande for Solo Clavichord (2018)
• Stetind (2018)
• Alone for Solo Cello (2017)
• September Lines for Solo Clarinet (2017)
• Sonata for Solo Clarinet (2017)
• Christiania, 1899 for Solo Piano (2016)
• Elegy for Solo Alto Recorder (or Oboe) (2016)
• Hauntings for Solo Flute (2016)
• Marble Songs (2016)
• Prowling (2016)
• Sonata for Solo Bassoon (2016)
• Three Lines (2016)
• Two Idylls (2016)
• Two Pieces for Solo Harpsichord (2016)
• A Prologue to the Past (2015)
• Inventory (2015), text by Dorothy Parker
• Summer Sketches (2015)
• Theory (2015), text by Dorothy Parker
• A Farther Front (2014)
• Sur le nom de Bach (2014)
• Vita (2014)
• Three Shades of Evil (2013)
• Trauermusik for Solo Cello (2012)
• 4 Memento Mori for Solo Piano (2012)
• The Ladies on the Bridge for Solo Violin (2010)

Film scores

• Rex Barbaricum (documentary series)
• Mortal (2020), directed by André Øvredal
• UMEÅ4ever (2011), directed by Geir Greni
• Upperdog (2009), directed by Sara Johnsen

Selected Discography

• Ensemble 96s: Kind (2L, 2010) (The Stolen Child)
• UMEÅ4ever (MTG Music, 2011)
• Henning Kraggerud: Munch Suite (Simax 2013)
• Johannes Martens and Joachim Kwetzinsky: Marcus Paus (Aurora 2013)
• Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra: OPUS 250 (LAWO Classics, 2015) (Concerto for Timpani and Orchestra)
• Tom Ottar Andreassen, the Norwegian Radio Orchestra, Henning Kraggerud, Oslo Camerata directed by Stephan Barratt-Due and others: Marcus Paus – Odes & Elegies (Sheva Contemporary, 2017)
• Tora Augestad and the Oslo Philharmonic: Portraying Passion: Works by Weill/Paus/Ives (LAWO Classics, 2018)
• Julie Kleive and Joachim Kwetzinsky: En hellig, alminnelig lek [A Sacred, Ordinary Game] (Grappa Musikkforlag, 2018)
• Norwegian Girls' Choir: The Beauty That Still Remains (2L, 2020)
• Mortal (MTG Music, 2020)
• Zurich Chamber Singers: O Nata Lux (Berlin Classics, 2020) (O Magnum Mysterium)
• Good Vibes in Bad Times (MTG Music, 2020)
• Sonata for Violin and Piano (Sheva Contemporary, 2021)
• Cabin Fever: Pandemic Works (Sheva Contemporary, 2022)
• Requiem/Trisyn/Læreren som ikke ble (2022), with Requiem by Marcus Paus/Ole Paus, and The Teacher Who Was Not To Be by Marcus Paus/Olav Anton Thommessen

Awards

• Wessel Prize, 2012
• Composer of the Year Prize (won) of the Norwegian Music Publishers, 2017
• Amanda Award for Best Music (nominated), 2020
• Breakthrough Composer of the Year, Movie Music UK Awards (nominated), 2020
• Nordic Film Music Days – HARPA Award (Norwegian nominee), 2021
• Government Grant for Artists, 2021
• Composer of the Year Prize (nominated) of the Norwegian Music Publishers, 2022
• Work of the Year Prize (nominated) of the Norwegian Music Publishers, 2022

See also

In Spanish: Marcus Paus para niños