Timothy Richard Sullivan is a Canadian

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and Defi ...

pianist A pianist ( , ) is an individual musician who plays the piano. Since most forms of Western music can make use of the piano, pianists have a wide repertoire and a wide variety of styles to choose from, among them traditional classical music, ja ...

, and

music educator Music education is a field of practice in which educators are trained for careers as elementary or secondary music teachers, school or music conservatory ensemble directors. Music education is also a research area in which scholars do original ...

. A member of the

Canadian League of Composers The Canadian League of Composers is an organization formed in 1951 of Canadian composers primarily interested in raising awareness and acceptance of Canadian music. Its activities are overseen and directed by an executive, and by a National Council ...

and an associate of the

Canadian Music Centre The Canadian Music Centre was founded in 1959 by a group of Canadian composers who saw a need to create a repository for Canadian music. It now holds Canada's largest collection of Canadian concert music, and works to promote the music of its As ...

, he has been commissioned to write works for ARRAYMUSIC, Donald Bell, and the

Stratford Festival The Stratford Festival is a theatre festival which runs from April to October in the city of Stratford, Ontario, Canada. Founded by local journalist Tom Patterson in 1952, the festival was formerly known as the Stratford Shakespearean Festival ...

among others. He is particularly known for his

opera Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a librett ...

s and was notably composer-in-residence at the

Canadian Opera Company The Canadian Opera Company (COC) is an opera company in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is the largest opera company in Canada and one of the largest producers of opera in North America. The COC performs in its own opera house, the Four Seasons Cent ...

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.

Life and career

Born in

Ottawa Ottawa (, ; Canadian French: ) is the capital city of Canada. It is located at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River in the southern portion of the province of Ontario. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the core ...

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

, 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 Musical composition can refer to an original piece or work of music, either vocal or instrumental, the structure of a musical piece or to the process of creating or writing a new piece of music. People who create new compositions are called c ...

with

Samuel Dolin Samuel ''Šəmūʾēl'', Tiberian: ''Šămūʾēl''; ar, شموئيل or صموئيل '; el, Σαμουήλ ''Samouḗl''; la, Samūēl is a figure who, in the narratives of the Hebrew Bible, plays a key role in the transition from the bi ...

. In 1975 he entered the

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution ...

where he was a pupil of

Walter Buczynski Walter Joseph Buczynski (born 17 December 1933) is a Canadian composer, music educator, and pianist.John Beckwith. From the university he earned a

Bachelor of Music Bachelor of Music (BM or BMus) is an academic degree awarded by a college, university, or conservatory upon completion of a program of study in music. In the United States, it is a professional degree, and the majority of work consists of prescr ...

in 1979, a Master of Music in 1980 and a

Doctor of Music The Doctor of Music degree (D.Mus., D.M., Mus.D. or occasionally Mus.Doc.) is a higher doctorate awarded on the basis of a substantial portfolio of compositions and/or scholarly publications on music. Like other higher doctorates, it is granted b ...

in 1999. In 1979 Sullivan joined the faculty at

The Royal Conservatory of Music The Royal Conservatory of Music (RCM), branded as The Royal Conservatory, is a non-profit music education institution and performance venue headquartered in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It was founded in 1886 by Edward Fisher as The Toronto Con ...

(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 The University of Victoria (UVic or Victoria) is a public research university located in the municipalities of Oak Bay and Saanich, British Columbia, Canada. The university traces its roots to Victoria College, the first post-secondary instit ...

Kyla Greenbaum Kyla Betty Greenbaum (5 February 1922 - 15 June 2017) was a British pianist and composer, the younger sister of conductor and composer Hyam Greenbaum. She gave the first UK performance of Arnold Schoenberg’s Piano Concerto in 1945 and the firs ...

(married name Crowcroft) recorded Sullivan's Piano Sonata No 1 in 1977 in Toronto.Canadian Music Center
/ref> But he first obtained wide notice for his

'' Tomorrow and Tomorrow'', a monodrama for soprano, chamber ensemble, and tape. The work successfully premiered by the

Center for Contemporary Opera The Center for Contemporary Opera (CCO) is a professional opera company based in New York City, and a member of OPERA America. The company focuses on producing and developing new opera and music theater works and reviving rarely seen American operas ...

in New York City on 28 March 1987 and was subsequently broadcast on

CBC Television CBC Television (also known as CBC TV) is a Canadian English-language broadcast television network owned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the national public broadcaster. The network began operations on September 6, 1952. Its French-l ...

on 19 February 1989 in a performance starring

Iraina Neufeld ''Epicephala'' (leafflower moths) is a genus of moths in the family Gracillariidae. ''Epicephala'' is of note in the fields of pollination biology and coevolution because many species in this genus are pollinators of plants in the genera ''Gloc ...

. His second opera ''

Dream Play ''A Dream Play'' ( sv, Ett drömspel) is a fantasy play in 14 scenes written in 1901 by the Swedish playwright August Strindberg. It was published in Swedish in 1902 and first performed in Stockholm on 17 April 1907. It remains one of Strindberg' ...

'' was also highly praised at its premiered on 11 May 1988 in Toronto in a performance by the

. His opera ''Florence'' premiered at the Elora Festival in 1992. 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 Menaka Thakkar (March 3, 1942 - February 5, 2022) was an Indo-Canadian dancer, choreographer, and teacher who specialized in Indian classical dance. Based in Toronto, Ontario, Thakkar taught and performed across Canada and around the world. S ...

(Untitled, Land of Cards); and Lata Pada (Cosmos, Revealed by Fire.) Currently, he is a

Earl Haig Secondary School Earl Haig Secondary School (EHSS), formerly Earl Haig Collegiate Institute is a public high school with 2,048 students in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. In addition to being a public secondary school, the school is also host to the Claude Watson Art ...

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

References

External links

Bio of Timothy Sullivan at the Canadian Music Centre
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sullivan, Timothy 1954 births Canadian classical composers Canadian classical pianists Male classical pianists Canadian opera composers Living people Canadian male classical composers Male opera composers Musicians from Ottawa Academic staff of The Royal Conservatory of Music University of Toronto alumni Academic staff of the University of Victoria Canadian male pianists 21st-century classical pianists 21st-century Canadian male musicians