Bio

Timothy Hansen (b.1978) is a composer, music director, and youth-arts tutor who has been engaged by a diverse range of companies and individuals to create new works for theatre and music. He has had work performed around Australia as well as New Zealand, France, Germany, the UK, Mexico, and the US. He currently lives in Sydney, but in September 2010 will move to New York to commence his Masters degree at New York University.

He has written for ensembles Saffire (Spiderwine), Griffyn Ensemble (Killa Chinchilla), Dominant 7 (Comic Book Hero), Canberra Youth Orchestra (Of Flying and Falling), and Guitarstrophe (Trouble in the Ribcage), and has composed new works for guitarists Daniel McKay (Dark Deeds and Wicked Words; Earwig) and Tim Kain (Little Bloody and FIERCE!), a series of miniatures featuring tarogato and electronics for clarinetist Nicole Canham (Secret Things), and a cross-discipline collaboration with harpist Liena Lacey, writer Joan Cornish and dancer Janine Ayres (People are Fatal).

Tim was a composition fellow at the 2005 Darwin International Guitar Festival where his piece Comic Book Hero resulted in him being awarded a commission for guitar quartet Saffire. In 2007 he attended the Bang on a Can Summer School as a composition fellow, and in 2008 he was joint artist-in-residence at Haefligers’ Cottage in Hill End, NSW, Australia with Canberra-based printmaker Antonia Aitken.

Tim’s uniquely evocative composition style has attracted the attention of a number of theatre and dance companies. He has composed scores for productions such as Dancing Giant’s gothic, circus-inspired Death’s Waiting Room, Centrepiece Theatre’s bizarrely unsettling A Most Curious Dream (with Warwick Lynch), and ARTS Theatre Company’s poignant exploration of sexuality, Telling Moments (with Helen Way). Upcoming projects featuring Tim's work include 2010 Sydney Fringe Festival shows Cuckoo (created by Margot Politis) and Dancing Giant's latest bloody offering, Molly: A Tale of Blood and Guts and Giants and Weddings, and Adelaide-based choreographer Daniel Hales' new work Asylum, to be performed as part of the 2010 Adelaide Feast Festival. Tim has also worked with the Sydney Theatre Company’s Actors’ Company on the development of new work.

In 2008 Tim was commissioned by the Pacific School Games to compose two new works for the opening ceremony. These works When You’re a Sheep and Tri the Pi were performed to an audience of ten thousand people by almost one thousand school-aged dancers, singers and musicians in the Canberra Stadium.

Tim’s theatrical flair and passion for music make him an excellent music director, and he has worked in this capacity with a diverse range of music ensembles, cabarets, and theatre companies. For many years he directed the Canberra Mandolin Ensemble and jazz vocal group Rhythm Syndicate, leading the latter to the state finals for the ABC Choir of the Year Competition in 2006. He has worked with the Canberra Philharmonic Society (Pack up your Troubles!), Everyman Productions (Tickets, Music Passport and Singer, Dancer, Actor), The Street Theatre (Berlin: Cabaret of Desire), and the all female revue Lady Sings It Better as part of the 2010 Sydney Mardi Gras Festival.

Tim greatly enjoys engaging with young people to create new work and develop their creative skills. For three years he worked with the Australian National University’s MuST programme (Music for Students with Talent) to create new music works by and for young people. He has also been engaged by a number of youth theatre companies to create new youth theatre pieces, including Canberra Youth Theatre (The Moth Tree with Shiereen Magsalin), PACT (A Minute Past Midnight) and Australian Theatre for Young People. He also had the good fortune to be engaged by Shopfront Contemporary Arts and Performance, first as music director for the 2009 Junior Ensemble’s devised production Too Good to be True (with director Kerreen Ely-Harper), then as Artistic Associate for the Junior Ensemble.

Tim holds a Bachelor of Arts (Theatre & Media)(Honours) from Charles Sturt University in Bathurst and a Bachelor of Music (Composition) from the Australian National University in Canberra. In September 2010 Tim will commence his Masters in Music Theory and Composition at New York University's Steinhardt School.