Paul Amitai: Trope Variations
FREE but registration required.
Registration: To register online, click here. To register by phone, call 414-446-8794.
Trope Variations is an improvisational vocal performance built around Hebrew cantillation, an ancient system of melodic notation used to chant the Torah. A set of thirty graphic marks, each representing a different melody, provide the creative prompts for performance. Inspired by Brian Eno's "Oblique Strategies" and John Cage's use of the I Ching to introduce chance operations into music, Trope Variations are never performed the same way twice. The melodic motifs are the building blocks of a performance, rearranged, sequenced, and reinterpreted in new ways every time it's performed.
The graphic notation system, known as cantillation or trope, has been used for centuries as a guide to chanting the Hebrew bible. When a graphic mark appears underneath a word or phrase within the biblical text, it indicates to the reader/listener its meaning, intention, and musical expression (melody, rhythm, phrasing). Extracting these graphics and melodies from their original function brings the vocabulary into a new context, eliciting the past but through a personal, contemporary reinterpretation.
The result is a distinctive approach to structured improvisation, where both vocal samples and live vocalizations are layered and processed to create lush, ambient soundscapes. Situated between extended-duration sound performances, loop-based minimalism, and immersive sound baths, Trope Variations is an exploration in redefining how the sacred or sublime might sound.
A Q&A with the artist will follow the performance.
Trope Variations was developed through support from a Ruth Arts Mary L. Nohl Alumni Award
More information about the project, along with audio and video documentation, here: https://www.paulamitai.com/#/trope-variations/
About the Artist
Paul Amitai is an artist and musician working in improvisational vocal performance and immersive experiences. He has exhibited and performed internationally, with residencies at the Frankfurter Kunstverein, Banff Centre, and Harvestworks. His work has been reviewed in The New Yorker, the New York Times, and the A.V. Club, which described his music as melding "seemingly disparate influences into a shape that not only makes sense, but begs the question why no one has done it quite like this before."
In 1999, Amitai conceived and co-curated the New York Festival of Electronic Composers and Improvisers at the Knitting Factory, featuring early innovators Pauline Oliveros, Tony Conrad, Morton Subotnick, and Silver Apples. He subsequently spent a decade as Senior Curator at Eyebeam Art & Technology Center, deepening his engagement with art and creative technology. He currently leads the sound design studio Listen in New York and mentors emerging artists at NEW INC at the New Museum.
Since 2021, he has released three albums of live vocal improvisation using his voice as the sole instrument. Trope Variations (2025-present), his current live performance platform built around Hebrew cantillation, is now being presented at venues across the US.
Paul Amitai was in the inaugural cohort of Greater Milwaukee Foundation Mary L. Nohl Fellows (2003) and received a 2024 Ruth Arts Mary L. Nohl Alumni Award. While in Milwaukee for this performance, he is organizing a meetup with a group of Nohl alumni who make interdisciplinary / media art. The objective is to bring these artists together to discuss shared interests, challenges, and aspirations in making work at varying scales—from local communities to regional, national, and international contexts—to share collective insights, surface opportunities, or maybe even spark new collaborations.
https://www.paulamitai.com/
