Paul Dirmeikis

Paul Dirmeikis (born 1954, Chicago, Illinois, United States) is a Francophone poet, composer, singer, and painter who lives in Brittany. He is of Lithuanian ancestry (Kazlauskaitė 2003, 13), and a member of the Lithuanian Composers Union.

As a writer, in the 1990s he began a large cycle of poems inspired by the German composer Karlheinz Stockhausen's entire musical output (Kohl 1998, 8)

Compositions (selective list)

Seventy compositions are now listed in his catalogue, including:

• Message laissé à Pondichéry le 18 novembre 1973 (Message Left in Pondicherry on 18 November 1973), for voice, saxophone, electric bass, vibraphone, crystal glasses, percussion, and piano
• Papier à musique (Music Paper), for voice and papers (4 performers)
• Un seul or, for voice, flute, saxophone, electric bass, tampura, and piano
• J. C., for voice, electric guitar, intratonal carillon, and computer-generated sounds (1983)
• String Quartet No. 1, op. 1 (1984)
• Le ciel sous la terre (Heaven in the Earth), String Quartet No. 2, op. 10 (1985)
• Un unique corps (A Unique Body), for overtone singer, flute, tampura, mugaveena, and electric bass
• Nous, les esprits, nous dansons (We, the Spirits, We Dance), for voice, two saxophones, percussion, electric bass, and synthesizer
• Lame d'orage (Storm Blade), for voice, two saxophones, percussion, electric bass, piano, and synthesizer
• Octa, op. 6, for two pianos in quarter tones (1984)
• Le monde dans notre maison (The World in Our House), for voice, flute, saxophone, electric bass, percussion, piano, and synthesizer
• Le serpent, for voice and computer-generated sounds
• Visur (Everywhere), for soprano and computer-generated sounds
• Dienaktis, electronic music for Lithuania (1988)
  • Motina (Mother), op. 18
  • Tevas (Father), op. 19
  • Krastas (Country), op. 20
  • Pavasaris (Spring), op. 21
  • Laikas (Time), op. 22
  • Susisristi (Links), op. 23
  • Gimimas (Birth), op. 24
• Ausra (Dawn), String Quartet No. 3, op. 27 (1996)
• Karma, op. 67, for string quartet and electronic and concrete music (2004) premiered by the Kaunas String Quartet at the "Is Arti" International Contemporary Music Festival in Kaunas
• Entre Parenthèses, 31 songs on poems by René Guy Cadou, for baritone voice and various instrumental ensembles, op. 68 (2005–2007)
• Sukaktuvès (Celebration), op. 70, for 3 oboes, 3 trumpets, and 3 bassoons, op. 70 (2007)
• Aster (Star), op. 71, for wind quintet (2010) premiered by the Quintette à vent de Bretagne

Paul Dirmeikis has been working since 2003 on a 22-part cycle, TAROT, for various instruments and/or electronic and concrete music.

Discography

• Loup Rouge (LP - 1984) - L'Eveilleur EVE 001
• Message laissé à Pondichéry le 18 novembre 1973 (CD - 1988) - L'Eveilleur EVE 002
• 17 Metacompositions - Electronic and concrete music (Audio DVD - 2002) - L'Eveilleur EVE 003
• Entre Parenthèses - 31 poèmes de René Guy Cadou (2-CD set – 2009) – L'Eveilleur EVE 004

Writings

• Limbres creusées - poems - Editions St Germain (1975)
• La Peur - short stories - Editions Le Cherche-Midi (1978)
• "Three Poems", Perspectives of New Music 36, no. 2 (Summer 1998): 41–52.
• Le Souffle du temps (Quodlibet pour Karlheinz Stockhausen) - Editions Telo Martius (1999). This is a conversation book with the German composer Karlheinz Stockhausen whom Dirmeikis had known for 30 years.
• L'Epaule d'Orphée - poetry - Foreword by Salah Stétié - Editions L'Eveilleur (2012)
• Gwerz - poetry - Editions L'Eveilleur (2013)
• Les Belles Choses - poetry - Editions L'Eveilleur (2014)
• Je te réunirai - novel - Editions L'Eveilleur (2015)