Tom Johnson (narozen v Coloradu, 1939) je americký skladatel a publicista. Absolvoval skladbu na Yale University a studioval soukromě u Mortona Feldmana. Z New Yorku se v roce 1983 odstěhoval do Paříže, kde doposud žije. Je považován za minimalistu, protože principy jeho tvorby jsou jednoduchost, ale postupuje hlavně podle logických zásad, používá kombinatoriku a permutaci.

Známé jsou jeho opery: The Four Note Opera (1972), Riemannoper, nebo jiné skladby jako Bedtime Stories, Rational Melodies, Music and Questions, Counting Duets, Tango, Narayana's Cows, and Failing.
Bonhoeffer Oratorium pro orchestr, sbor a solisty s libretem theologa Dietricha Bonhoeffera měl premiéru v Maastrichtu (1996) a později by provedem v Berlině a New Yorku.

Johnson has also written numerous radio pieces, such as J'entends un choeur (commissioned by Radio France for the Prix Italia, 1993), Music and Questions (also available on an Australian Broadcasting Company CD) and Die Melodiemaschinen, premiered by WDR Radio in Cologne in January 1996. The most recent radio piece is A Time to Listen, premiered by the Irish national radio in 2004.
The principal recordings currently available on CD are the Musique pour 88 (1988) (XI), An Hour for Piano(1971) (Lovely Music), The Chord Catalogue (1986) (XI), Organ and Silence (2000) (Ants), and Kientzy Plays Johnson (2004) (Pogus).

The Voice of New Music, a collection of articles written 1971-1982 for the Village Voice was published by Apollohuis in 1989. Self-Similar Melodies, a theoretical book in English, was published by Editions 75 in 1996. Recent projects include Tilework, a series of 14 pieces for solo instruments, published by Editions 75 in 2003, Same or Different, a piece commissioned by the Dutch radio in 2004, and the Combinations for String Quartet, premiered in Berlin on the MärzMusik Festival in 2004. As performer he frequently plays his Galileo, a 45-minute piece written for a self-invented percussion instrument.

Johnson received the French national prize in the victoires de la musique in 2001 for Kientzy Loops.
November 2004

DISCOGRAPHY

• An Hour for Piano, Frederic Rzewski, piano, Lovely Music, Ltd. CD/LP 1081, 1979/2000
• The Chord Catalogue, Experimental Intermedia XI 123, 1999
• Music for 88, Experimental Intermedia XI 106, 1993
• Rational Melodies, on "Now Series," Eberhard Blum, flutes, Hat Hut ART CD 6133, 1993
• Failing: A Difficult piece for Solo String Bass, on "Live at Bang On A Can," Composers Recordings Inc. CRI CD 628, 1992