Timothy Sullivan (composer)

Last updated

Timothy Richard Sullivan is a Canadian composer, pianist, and music educator. A member of the Canadian League of Composers and an associate of the Canadian Music Centre, he has been commissioned to write works for ARRAYMUSIC, Donald Bell, and the Stratford Festival among others. He is particularly known for his operas and was notably composer-in-residence at the Canadian Opera Company in 1987-1988. His composition are noted for their use of various media and incorporation of several musical idioms, including jazz, chance music, traditional harmony, and serialism. [1]

Contents

Life and career

Born in Ottawa, Ontario, Sullivan began studying the piano at the age of 15 and at the age of 20 moved to Toronto to pursue studies in music composition with Samuel Dolin. In 1975 he entered the University of Toronto where he was a pupil of Walter Buczynski and John Beckwith. From the university he earned a Bachelor of Music in 1979, a Master of Music in 1980 and a Doctor of Music in 1999. [1]

In 1979 Sullivan joined the faculty at The Royal Conservatory of Music (RCMT) where he taught for the next decade. He notably was director of the RCMT's composition program from 1985-1989 and in 1986 founded the school's Contemporary Music Ensemble. In 1989-1990 he taught music composition at the University of Victoria. [1]

Kyla Greenbaum (married name Crowcroft) recorded Sullivan's Piano Sonata No 1 in 1977 in Toronto. [2] But he first obtained wide notice for his opera Tomorrow and Tomorrow , a monodrama for soprano, chamber ensemble, and tape. The work successfully premiered by the Center for Contemporary Opera in New York City on 28 March 1987 and was subsequently broadcast on CBC Television on 19 February 1989 in a performance starring Iraina Neufeld. His second opera Dream Play was also highly praised at its premiered on 11 May 1988 in Toronto in a performance by the Canadian Opera Company. His opera Florence premiered at the Elora Festival in 1992. [1]

From 1992 to 2005, Sullivan composed extensively for dance, including modern dance, ballet and Bharatanatyam. Notable choreographer-collaborators were William Douglas (Apollon, La Zone d'Or); John Alleyne (The Archeology of Karl, In the Course of Sleeping and Adrian, Angel on Earth); Menaka Thakkar (Untitled, Land of Cards); and Lata Pada (Cosmos, Revealed by Fire.)

Currently, he is a music educator at Earl Haig Secondary School, Toronto, Ontario.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nikolai Korndorf</span> Musical artist

Nikolai Sergeevich Korndorf was a Russian and Canadian composer and conductor. He was prolific both in Moscow, Russia, and in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.

István Anhalt, was a Hungarian-Canadian composer.

John Beckwith was a Canadian composer, writer, pianist, teacher, and administrator.

Alexina Diane Louie, is a Canadian composer of contemporary art music. She has composed for various instrumental and vocal combinations in a variety of genres. She has fulfilled a number of commissions, and her works, which have been performed internationally, have earned her a number of awards, including the Order of Canada and two Juno Awards.

Philip Cashian is an English composer. He is the head of composition at the Royal Academy of Music.

Andrew Paul MacDonald is a Canadian classical composer, guitarist, conductor, and music educator. His compositions have been performed in many countries and recorded by well-known musical ensembles.

Michael Charles Colgrass was an American-born Canada-based musician, composer, and educator.

Dan Welcher is an American composer, conductor, and music educator.

Marjan Mozetich is a Canadian composer who has written music for theatre, film and dance, as well as many symphonic works, chamber music, and solo pieces. He has written compulsory competition pieces for the 1992 Banff String Quartet Competition and the 1995 Montreal International Music Competition. Co-founder of Arraymusic in Toronto, Mozetich served as their artistic director from 1976 to 1978. After his work with Array, he worked for some time at the University of Toronto music library, and he then became a freelance composer. Mozetich moved to Howe Island, near Kingston, Ontario, and taught composition at Queen's University in Kingston from 1991 to 2010. He has won several awards, including the first prize in the CAPAC (SOCAN)-Sir Ernest MacMillan Award. His major compositions include Fantasia... sul linguaggio perduto, and Postcards from the Sky.

Bruce Mather is a Canadian composer, pianist, and writer who is particularly known for his contributions to contemporary classical music.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tim Brady</span> Canadian composer, musician and producer

Timothy Wesley John Brady is a Canadian composer, electric guitarist, improvising musician, concert producer, record producer and cultural activist. Working in the field of contemporary classical music, experimental music, and musique actuelle, his compositions utilize a variety of styles from serialism to minimalism and often incorporate modern instruments such as electric guitars and other electroacoustic instruments. His music is marked by a synthesis of musical languages, having developed an ability to use elements of many musical styles while retaining a strong sense of personal expression. Some of his early recognized works are the 1982 orchestral pieces Variants and Visions, his Chamber Concerto (1985), the chamber trio ...in the Wake..., and his song cycle Revolutionary Songs (1994).

Charles Mills Wilson was a Canadian composer, choral conductor, and music educator.

Gary Kulesha is a Canadian composer, pianist, conductor, and educator. Since 1995, he has been Composer Advisor to the Toronto Symphony Orchestra. He has been Composer-in-Residence with the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony (1988–1992) and the Canadian Opera Company (1993–1995). He was awarded the National Arts Centre Orchestra Composer Award in 2002. He currently teaches on the music faculty at the University of Toronto.

Walter Joseph Buczynski is a Canadian composer, music educator, and pianist.

José Evangelista was a Spanish composer and music educator who was based in Montreal, Canada. He was professor of composition at the Université de Montréal from 1979 to 2009. A member of the Canadian League of Composers, the Sociedad General de Autores y Editores, and an associate of the Canadian Music Centre, Evangelista was known for his commitment to contemporary classical music and non-Western music.

Samuel Joseph Dolin was a Canadian composer, music educator, and arts administrator. An associate of the Canadian Music Centre and a founding member of the Canadian League of Composers (CLC), he served as the CLC's vice president from 1967 to 1968 and president from 1969 to 1973. He was also vice-president of the International Society for Contemporary Music (ISCM) from 1972 to 1975 and chairman of the ISCM's Canadian Chapter from 1970 to 1974. From 1945 to 2001 he taught music composition, music theory, and piano at The Royal Conservatory of Music where he trained dozens of notable Canadian composers.

Norma Marian Beecroft is a Canadian composer, producer, broadcaster, and arts administrator. A member of the Canadian League of Composers and an associate of the Canadian Music Centre, she twice won the Canada Council's Lynch-Staunton Award for composition. She has been commissioned to write works for such organizations as the Atlantic Symphony Orchestra, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the Canadian Electronic Ensemble, The Music Gallery, the National Arts Centre Orchestra, the National Ballet of Canada, the Quebec Contemporary Music Society, the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, and York Winds among others. She is an honorary member of the Canadian Electroacoustic Community and has served on the juries of the SOCAN Awards and the Jules Léger Prize for New Chamber Music. In 1988 she donated many of her original manuscripts, papers, and recordings to the library at the University of Calgary.

Richard Johnston was a Canadian composer, conductor, editor, folklorist, music critic, music educator, music producer, and university administrator of American birth. He became a naturalized Canadian citizen in 1957. An associate of the Canadian Music Centre, he was appointed a Member of the Order of Canada in February 1997. The library at the University of Calgary holds a substantial amount of his papers, manuscripts, and transcripts in its "Richard Johnston Canadian Music Archives Collection". His original fieldwork tapes and transcripts made during his research as a folklorist are part of the collection at the Canadian Museum of Civilization.

The Faculty of Music at the University of Toronto is one of several professional faculties at the University of Toronto. The Faculty of Music is located at the Edward Johnson Building, just south of the Royal Ontario Museum and north of Queen's Park, west of Museum Subway Station. MacMillan Theatre and Walter Hall are located in the Edward Johnson Building. The Faculty of Music South building contains rehearsal rooms and offices, and the Upper Jazz Studio performance space is located at 90 Wellesley Street West. In January 2021, the Faculty announced Dr. Ellie Hisama as the new Dean starting July 1, 2021.

Allan Gordon Bell, is a Canadian contemporary classical composer.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Robin Elliott. "Timothy Sullivan". The Canadian Encyclopedia . Retrieved 25 April 2010.
  2. Canadian Music Center