Canadian Composer
Timothy Sullivan COMPOSER · CONDUCTOR · SCHOLAR · EDUCATOR
Accessible contemporary music of dramatic imagination, rhythmic vitality and lyrical intensity—created for the concert hall, theatre, dance, voice and new media.
Known for the versatility and dramatic imagination of his work in opera, ballet, film, orchestral music, voice and mixed media, Timothy Sullivan has composed for the National Film Board of Canada, CBC Television, the Canadian Opera Company, Ballet British Columbia, Arraymusic, New Music Concerts and the Stratford Festival. His music has been performed throughout Canada and the United States, as well as in the United Kingdom, Europe, India and Australia.
Listen · Score · Info
Works Explore recordings, available study scores, and concise introductions. Larger works open to movement-by-movement pages so that listeners can move easily among the music, scores, and notes.
Catalogue
Orchestra Large-scale works of colour, momentum and dramatic shape, ranging from concert works and concertos to music conceived through dance, memory and contemporary events.
LvB The Archeology of Karl · string orchestra / ballet score
× Programme note
LvB / The Archeology of Karl String orchestra / ballet score
A full-length ballet created for Ballet British Columbia and choreographer John Alleyne. Beethoven’s late quartets are treated not as quotations but as archaeological material: stretched, layered, intensified and heard through electronic and orchestral transformation.
Double Concerto Violin, cello and strings
× Programme note
Double Concerto Violin, cello and strings
A three-movement concerto in which violin and cello move between dialogue, rivalry and shared lyricism. The work was also used for choreography by Les Ballets de Monte-Carlo.
Pro Tempore Winds, strings and percussion; three movements
× Programme note
Pro Tempore Winds, strings and percussion; three movements
A three-movement study in contrasting experiences of time: Perepetie, Immobile and Mechanik. The work moves from unstable transformation through suspended stillness to driving, machine-like energy.
The Don Juan Variations Orchestra; six movements
× Programme note
The Don Juan Variations Orchestra; six movements
A six-movement orchestral cycle generated from a single melodic theme. Across the work, flirtation, evasion, seduction, domination, cumulative canon and epitaph transform the theme into a dramatic portrait of Don Juan.
Dream Sequence Chamber orchestra / proposed small orchestra
× Programme note
Dream Sequence Chamber orchestra / proposed small orchestra
A compact tone poem unfolding as a succession of shifting images. Veiled sonorities, delicate colour and gradually intensifying waves of sound emerge as though through a curtain of memory.
Supernova Large ensemble / orchestral conception
× Programme note
Supernova Large ensemble / orchestral conception
High-energy music shaped by South Indian Carnatic time cycles. Patterns of two, three, four and five generate propulsion and changing perspectives, making rhythm the architecture of the work rather than surface decoration.
Video · inspired by Ukraine Anthem
Anthem Concert band / planned orchestra
× Programme note
Anthem Concert band / planned orchestra
Written in honour of Ukraine, Anthem balances a broad, sweeping principal theme with a recessive second idea and a luminous upper-register transformation, imagined as sunlight touching the tops of dark clouds.
Explore more Orchestra works ↓ Catalogue
Opera Music theatre stands at the centre of Sullivan’s catalogue, joining dramatic pacing, vivid characterization, lyrical intensity and a contemporary language written directly for the stage.
Tomorrow and Tomorrow Opera
× Programme note
Tomorrow and Tomorrow Opera
Sullivan’s first opera, premiered in New York and later produced for television by CBC. It established his enduring concern with psychological theatre, vocal characterization and large dramatic form.
Dream Play Opera after August Strindberg
× Programme note
Dream Play Opera after August Strindberg
Adapted and composed during Sullivan’s association with the Canadian Opera Company, Dream Play translates Strindberg’s fluid theatrical world into music of shifting identity, memory and dream logic.
Florence: The Lady with the Lamp — Act I Opera; libretto by Anne McPherson
× Programme note
Florence: The Lady with the Lamp Opera; libretto by Anne McPherson
Commissioned by the Elora Festival and later produced in Toronto and Vancouver. The opera examines Florence Nightingale as a complex dramatic figure rather than a simple historical emblem.
Florence: The Lady with the Lamp — Act II Opera; libretto by Anne McPherson
× Programme note
Florence: The Lady with the Lamp Opera; libretto by Anne McPherson
Commissioned by the Elora Festival and later produced in Toronto and Vancouver. The opera examines Florence Nightingale as a complex dramatic figure rather than a simple historical emblem.
× Programme note
Joséphine Opera
Completed and performed in New York by the Center for Contemporary Opera. The work belongs to Sullivan’s continuing exploration of historically grounded women as psychologically vivid operatic protagonists.
Catalogue
Dance / Ballet Music composed with movement at its centre, ranging from ballet and modern dance to collaborations shaped by Bharatanatyam and South Indian rhythmic practice.
Dance collaboration Black and White in Colour
Black and White in Colour Dance collaboration with Hari Krishnan
Info
× Programme note
Black and White in Colour Dance collaboration with Hari Krishnan
A dance collaboration in which Sullivan served as composer and sound producer, creating a musical environment designed around Hari Krishnan’s movement and theatrical imagination.
Dance / Carnatic collaboration Cosmos
Cosmos Dance collaboration with Lata Pada and Ravikiran
× Programme note
Cosmos Dance collaboration with Lata Pada and Ravikiran
A large collaborative dance project bringing together movement, Bhagavad Gita text and music. Sullivan and Ravikiran produced the music and sound; Supernova and Jupiter emerged within its wider musical world.
Dance collaboration Namaskar
Namaskar Dance collaboration · Chandralekha / Toronto Dance Theatre
× Programme note
Namaskar Flute, oboe, 3 percussion and strings · c. 12 minutes
Composed for Chandralekha for her first collaboration with a Western dance company, Toronto Dance Theatre. The collaboration dates from 1997; the surviving C score is copyright 1998.
Two Pianos II Two pianos / dance adaptation
× Programme note
Two Pianos Two pianos / dance adaptation
Commissioned by Charles Foreman and performed by Duo Turgeon, Two Pianos is a full-length concert work whose strong formal profile and kinetic energy also made it effective for dance. The work was used as the score for Angel of God by Dance Theatre of Harlem.
Dance If You Must Dance score
× Programme note
Dance If You Must Dance score
A rhythmically charged dance work drawing together jazz energy and Indian-influenced rhythmic thinking.
Untitled Electroacoustic dance work
× Programme note
Untitled Electroacoustic work for synthesized MIDI instruments
Created in collaboration with Bharatanatyam guru Menaka Thakkar and Le Groupe de la Place Royale, Untitled transforms jati rhythmic patterns into widely contrasting stylistic sections, integrating Carnatic rhythmic ideas with contemporary classical musical language.
The Don Juan Variations Orchestra; six movements
× Programme note
The Don Juan Variations Orchestra; six movements
A six-movement orchestral cycle generated from a single melodic theme. Across the work, flirtation, evasion, seduction, domination, cumulative canon and epitaph transform the theme into a dramatic portrait of Don Juan.
Entre-deux Electronic / mixed-media dance work
× Programme note
Entre-deux Electronic / mixed-media dance work
Written for choreographer Dominique Dumais and Les Ballets Jazz de Montréal, Entre-deux is music for evocative and provocative dance, unfolding across five movements through sharply contrasted electronic textures, rhythmic drive and theatrical atmosphere.
LvB The Archeology of Karl · string orchestra / ballet score
× Programme note
LvB / The Archeology of Karl String orchestra / ballet score
A full-length ballet created for Ballet British Columbia and choreographer John Alleyne. Beethoven’s late quartets are treated not as quotations but as archaeological material: stretched, layered, intensified and heard through electronic and orchestral transformation.
Revealed by Fire Electroacoustic dance work
× Programme note
Revealed by Fire Electroacoustic dance work
Created for Lata Pada, Revealed by Fire transforms the language of Bharatanatyam within a contemporary multidisciplinary theatre work responding to the Air India tragedy. Dance, spoken text, projected imagery and contemporary sound are brought together in a ritualized dramatic structure. Visual and video design by Cylla von Tiedemann incorporated family photographs and imagery associated with the disaster; Judith Rudakoff contributed text and dramaturgy; R. A. Ramamani provided Carnatic musical material; and Timothy Sullivan created the contemporary electronic sound design.
Supernova Large ensemble / orchestral conception
× Programme note
Supernova Large ensemble / orchestral conception
High-energy music shaped by South Indian Carnatic time cycles. Patterns of two, three, four and five generate propulsion and changing perspectives, making rhythm the architecture of the work rather than surface decoration.
Wood Electroacoustic; seven movements
× Programme note
Wood Electroacoustic; seven movements
Written through Le Groupe de la Place Royale for a ritualistic dance of stillness, Wood is an electroacoustic work in which texture, resonance, friction and evolving sonic colour take the place of conventional melodic and harmonic development.
Apollo Dance work / piano score
Explore more Dance / Ballet works ↓ Catalogue
Chamber Music Intimate works marked by unusual instrumental colour, rhythmic invention, lyric expression and the close interplay of independent musical voices.
Night and Wind Flute and string trio
× Programme note
Night and Wind Flute and string trio
A chamber work whose title suggests its essential world: breath, darkness, motion and finely balanced instrumental colour.
Pro Tempore Winds, strings and percussion; three movements
× Programme note
Pro Tempore Winds, strings and percussion; three movements
A three-movement study in contrasting experiences of time: Perepetie, Immobile and Mechanik. The work moves from unstable transformation through suspended stillness to driving, machine-like energy.
Music from Nowhere New-music ensemble
× Programme note
Music from Nowhere New-music ensemble
Commissioned in 1988, this two-part ensemble work explores the emergence of musical form from seemingly unanchored sonorities, fragments and changing instrumental relationships.
Frieze 16 mixed instruments
× Programme note
Frieze 16 mixed instruments
Commissioned by the Stratford Theatre Ensemble, Frieze treats the ensemble as a field of sharply profiled colours and interlocking gestures.
Technos Clarinet, vibraphone and accordion
Info
× Programme note
Technos Clarinet, vibraphone and accordion
A compact precursor to Pro Tempore. Its unusual trio sonority and concentrated temporal contrasts make it, in effect, Pro Tempore in miniature.
Jazz ensemble / Carnatic time Rhythm Sections
× Programme note
Rhythm Sections Jazz band
Commissioned for the New Works for Young Performers series. Carnatic tala cycles are translated into a jazz-band language whose changing metres reveal the deeper rhythmic design.
MTN follow-score videos Three Etudes in Multiple Tempi
Three Etudes in Multiple Tempi Mixed ensembles
× Programme note
Three Etudes in Multiple Tempi Mixed ensembles
Three proof-of-concept compositions demonstrating Sullivan’s Multiple Tempi Notation: simultaneous accelerando and ritardando, independent ensemble rubato, and superimposed historical sound-worlds at different tempi.
Sonata for Flute and Piano Flute and piano
× Programme note
Sonata for Flute and Piano Flute and piano
An early sonata combining lyrical flute writing with an active, independent piano part. Its directness and instrumental clarity make it particularly suitable for renewed performance.
Explore more Chamber Music works ↓ Catalogue
Vocal / Choral Works in which words generate musical theatre, lyric intimacy, ritual and colour—from solo song cycles to chamber vocal and choral writing.
Three Songs of Autumn Voice and piano
× Programme note
Three Songs of Autumn Voice and piano
Three Songs of Autumn sets texts by the composer in three movements: I. Quiet Day, II. In Still Wake, and III. Flutter and Fall. Each song responds to the rich colours, changing light and inward sensibilities of autumn.
Between Earth and Sky A cappella chorus and percussion; six movements
× Programme note
Between Earth and Sky Choir
A choral work created with text by Kateri Akiwenzie-Damm and commissioned by the Bell’Arte Choir, joining human voice, landscape and Indigenous poetic perspective.
L’Amour Neige Voice and piano; three French folk-song settings
× Programme note
L’Amour Neige Voice and piano; three French folk-song settings
Trois chansons traditionnelles françaises — I. Blanche Comme la Neige, II. Si l’Amour Prenait Racine et III. La Rose Blanche — sont traitées comme trois parcours musicaux continus. Chacune possède sa propre atmosphère hivernale, où le texte et la musique se déploient dans un paysage expressif distinct, tantôt intime, tantôt nocturne, tantôt presque théâtral.
In the Spirit of the Wind Voice, flute and guitar
× Programme note
In the Spirit of the Wind Voice, flute and guitar
Five song settings for voice, flute and guitar, based on Indigenous poems published in John Bierhorst’s 1971 collection In the Trail of the Wind: American Indian Poems and Ritual Orations: I. The Moon and the Year, II. Whence Does He Spring?, III. Dream Song, IV. Love Song, and V. Ya Hi Yé. The cycle is imagined as if heard in late afternoon on an open plain, with wind and distant birdcalls forming an unseen background. A solo-flute adaptation of No. 3 is available separately as Flute Song.
A Magic Casement Soprano, mezzo-soprano and two pianos; twelve songs
× Programme note
A Magic Casement Soprano, mezzo-soprano and two pianos; twelve songs
A twelve-song cycle created for the Aldeburgh Connection. The sequence moves through faery imagery, theatrical characterization and dream-like transformations, supported by two highly active piano parts.
A Soft and Golden Fire Voice, flute and harp; texts by James Joyce
× Programme note
A Soft and Golden Fire Voice, flute and harp; texts by James Joyce
A four-song cycle setting James Joyce. The transparent instrumentation allows voice, flute and harp to exchange colour and imagery in music that is lyrical, concentrated and dramatically alert.
Explore more Vocal / Choral works ↓ Catalogue
Solo Solo and duo works that place instrumental personality, gesture and virtuosity in the foreground.
× Programme note
Twelve Touches Solo piano
A sequence of twelve concentrated piano pieces in which touch, resonance, attack and decay become primary compositional materials.
Remembrance Solo piano
Info
× Programme note
Remembrance Solo piano
A reflective piano work shaped by recollection, suspended sonority and restrained lyricism.
Scherzo Brillante Free-bass accordion
× Programme note
Scherzo Brillante Free-bass accordion
A brilliant and rhythmically agile accordion solo that exploits the independence and orchestral range of the free-bass instrument.
Qua Distantia Violin and piano
× Programme note
Qua Distantia Violin and piano
A work concerned with distance—between instruments, registers, gestures and emotional states—projected through an intense violin-and-piano dialogue.
Three Songs of Autumn Voice and piano
× Programme note
Three Songs of Autumn Voice and piano
Three Songs of Autumn sets texts by the composer in three movements: I. Quiet Day, II. In Still Wake, and III. Flutter and Fall. Each song responds to the rich colours, changing light and inward sensibilities of autumn.
Explore more Solo works ↓ Selected performances
Conducting & Coaching Orchestral and vocal repertoire presented for historical, stylistic and ensemble balance. Conducting, coaching, workshops and performance projects are considered individually.
Ludwig van Beethoven — Symphony No. 4 — I. Adagio – Allegro vivace Audio recording
Conducting video
Timothy Sullivan — Double Concerto Watch video Felix Mendelssohn — Italian Symphony — I Sergei Prokofiev — Classical Symphony — I Alexander Borodin — Polovtsian Dances Robert Schumann — Piano Concerto in A minor Recording available on request.
Maurice Ravel — Trois beaux oiseaux du Paradis Recording available on request.
Modest Mussorgsky — Polonaise from Boris Godunov Recording available on request.
Claude Debussy — Dieu ! qu’il la fait bon regarder ! Recording available on request.
Gustav Holst — Hymn to the Moon Recording available on request.
Gustav Holst — Hymn to the Waters Recording available on request.
Hugo Wolf — Italian Serenade Recording available on request.
Claudio Monteverdi — Nisi Dominus Recording available on request.
Luca Marenzio — Zefiro torna e ’l bel tempo rimena Recording available on request.
J. S. Bach — Sanctus in D Recording available on request.
PORTRAIT TO FOLLOW
Pablo de Sarasate — Carmen Fantasy, Op. 25 Recording available on request.
Discuss a conducting or coaching project →
Multiple Tempi Notation
Three Etudes in Multiple Tempi Follow-score videos present the etudes both as chamber works and as demonstrations of simultaneous tempi organized through a governing reference pulse.
Etude No. 1 Live and follow-score introduction to temporal counterpoint.
Etude No. 2 Independent tempi remain legible within conventional staff notation.
Etude No. 3 — Simultaneous Tempi Materials associated with Beethoven, Wagner, Stravinsky and Debussy overlap under a common temporal framework.
Biography
About Timothy Sullivan Timothy Sullivan began studying piano in his teens and continued his musical training at the Royal Conservatory and the Faculty of Music in Toronto. His development as a composer led through work in opera, orchestral and chamber music, dance, voice, choral writing, film and electroacoustic media, and culminated in a doctorate in composition.
His continuing investigation of musical time produced Multiple Tempi Notation (MTN), a practical system for coordinating simultaneous tempi through a governing reference pulse. Alongside composition and scholarship, he has pursued creative collaborations across theatre, dance and new media, and remains active in conducting, coaching, private and remote instruction, consultation, workshops and artistic development.
His music is guided by musical necessity rather than fashion: accessible contemporary work of dramatic imagination, rhythmic vitality and lyrical intensity, without becoming banal, predictable or needlessly complex.
Teaching · coaching · consultation
Educator Timothy Sullivan has taught privately at the Royal Conservatory, at the University of Victoria in British Columbia, and in elementary and secondary schools. He has also presented numerous interactive seminars on creativity in education, bringing together practical musicianship, composition, imagination and reflective teaching.
Discuss lessons, consultation or a workshop →
Stay in Touch
Follow Timothy Sullivan Occasional news about performances, recordings, new scores and Musings.
A mailing list and Musings will be added when they are ready—without a fixed publishing schedule.
