Timothy McCormack
(1984) writes haptic, viscous music which makes audible the tactile, physical
relationship between a performer and their instrument. Sometimes ecstatic,
sometimes hermetic, his music embeds pitch within dense walls of noise to
create strangely affecting sonic ecologies which alter one’s perception of
time.
He
has been commissioned by ensembles and organizations such as the ELISION
Ensemble, Ensemblekollektiv Berlin, Klangforum Wien, the JACK Quartet,
musikFabrik, Curious Chamber Players, the [Switch~ Ensemble], the Wittener Tage
für neue Kammermusik, the impuls Festival, and ON – Neue Musik Köln. His music
has also been performed by Ensemble Recherche, Ensemble Dal Niente, the TaleaEnsemble, Ensemble Nikel, and ensemble mosaik, and programmed on the MATA, Wien
Modern, Darmstadt, Huddersfield, Maerzmusik,
photo: Manu Theobald
McCormack is the recipient of the Ernst von Siemens Music Foundation Composers’ Prize
(2018). He won the Impuls International Composition Competition (2019) which
resulted in a new work
for Vienna’s Klangforum Wien. He was also awarded the George Arthur Knight
Prize (2014) for his piece you actually are evaporating,
as well as the John Green Fellowship (2017) for his “demonstrated talent and
promise as a composer,” both from Harvard University.
On Friday, February 14th, Dr. McCormack will host a masterclass with several of the University at Buffalo PhD composition students
and will present a lecture on his current composition interests and projects.
