Image by Sam White
Darius Paymai is an Iranian-American composer and performer based in London. His work is characterised by a clarity of approach and economy of material: often fragile, static, cyclical, found and reused in new contexts.
He is undertaking an Artist Master’s at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, learning with Laurence Crane, where he also studied at an undergraduate level with Paul Newland and Paul Whitmarsh.
As a composer he has worked with ensembles such as the London Chamber Orchestra, Plus-Minus Ensemble, Britten Sinfonia, EXAUDI, Quatuor Bozzini, and cellist Francesco Dillon, and his music performed at St. John’s Smith Square, The Place, Milton Court Concert Hall, and Hundred Years Gallery.
As a performer he is interested in approaching experimental repertoire, drone, and free improvisation, often with harmonium, percussion, or live electronics, as well as making and presenting independent radio shows.
His studies have been supported by the Guildhall School Trust.
He enjoys two-word piece titles and crossword puzzles.
link to recent interview
- bass clarinet, electric guitar, percussion, violin, ‘cello
- written for Plus-Minus Ensemble
quintet was recipient of the 2024 Tracey Chadwell Memorial Prize.
Programme note
The musical materials used in quintet come from several different sources. They are mainly from un-used sketches and drafts of my older pieces, but there are also newly devised materials. I worked by surrounding myself with these scraps and slowly bringing them together as layers which roll over loosely, attaching to and detaching from one another, some solidifying and others fading away.
With many thanks to Mark Knoop and Plus-Minus Ensemble.
Performances
21-06-2024: Plus-Minus Ensemble cond. Mark Knoop, Milton Court Concert Hall (UK) as part of the Guildhall MMus Composers' Showcase and Making It Festival.