Timothy Sullivan

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.

Listen & ExploreContact
Timothy Sullivan

Listen · Score · Information

Works

Each entry opens directly to a recording, an available score, and a concise introduction drawn from ongoing analytical discussion of the music. Four works are shown first in each category; use Explore more to continue through the catalogue.

OrchestraOperaDance / BalletChamber MusicVocal / ChoralMixed MediaSolo

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

LvB / The Archeology of Karl

String orchestra / ballet score

Listen

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.

Listen
The Don Juan Variations

The Don Juan Variations

Orchestra; six movements

Listen

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.

Listen
Double Concerto

Double Concerto

Violin, cello and strings

Listen

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.

Listen
Dream Sequence

Dream Sequence

Chamber orchestra / proposed small orchestra

Listen

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.

Listen
Supernova

Supernova

Large ensemble / orchestral conception

ListenScore

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.

ListenScore
Anthem

Anthem

Concert band / planned orchestra

Listen

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.

Listen
Pro Tempore

Pro Tempore

Winds, strings and percussion; three movements

Listen

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.

Listen

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

Tomorrow and Tomorrow

Opera

Listen

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.

Listen
Dream Play

Dream Play

Opera after August Strindberg

Listen

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.

Listen
Florence: The Lady with the Lamp

Florence: The Lady with the Lamp

Opera; libretto by Anne McPherson

Listen

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.

Listen

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.

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.

Cosmos

Cosmos

Dance collaboration with Lata Pada and Ravikiran

Listen

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.

Listen
Namaskar

Namaskar

Dance collaboration with Chandralekha

Programme note

Namaskar

Dance collaboration with Chandralekha

Created in collaboration with the influential choreographer Chandralekha. Sullivan developed music and sound in direct response to her movement language and theatrical structure.

Programme note

Two Pianos

Two pianos / dance adaptation

A full-length concert work whose strong formal profile and kinetic energy also supported successful choreography by Dance Theatre of Harlem.

Listen
Dance If You Must

Dance If You Must

Dance score

Listen

Programme note

Dance If You Must

Dance score

A rhythmically charged dance work drawing together jazz energy and Indian-influenced rhythmic thinking.

Listen

Catalogue

Chamber Music

Intimate works marked by unusual instrumental colour, rhythmic invention, lyric expression and the close interplay of independent musical voices.

Frieze

Frieze

16 mixed instruments

Listen

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.

Listen
Technos

Technos

Clarinet, vibraphone and accordion

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.

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.

Listen

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.

Music from Nowhere

Music from Nowhere

New-music ensemble

Listen

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.

Listen
Night and Wind

Night and Wind

Flute and string trio

Listen

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.

Listen

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.

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.

A Magic Casement

A Magic Casement

Soprano, mezzo-soprano and two pianos; twelve songs

Listen

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.

Listen
A Soft and Golden Fire

A Soft and Golden Fire

Voice, flute and harp; texts by James Joyce

Listen

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.

Listen

Programme note

Three Songs of Autumn

Voice and piano

A cycle on Sullivan’s own texts, dedicated to Harry Somers. The songs treat autumn as both physical season and inward state, balancing lyric warmth with mortality and change.

Programme note

In the Spirit of the Wind

Voice, flute and guitar

Five settings drawn from translations in In the Trail of the Wind. The cycle uses a spare chamber texture to preserve the directness and ritual character of the poetry.

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.

Programme note

L’Amour Neige

Voice and piano; three French folk-song settings

Three French folk melodies are transformed into distinct dramatic worlds. Plain vocal narratives are surrounded by piano writing that can be psychological, nocturnal, buoyant or almost operatic.

Listen

Catalogue

Mixed Media

Electronic and electroacoustic works created through studio processes, synthesized instruments and close collaboration with dance and theatre.

Wood

Wood

Electroacoustic; seven movements

Listen

Programme note

Wood

Electroacoustic; seven movements

A seven-movement electroacoustic work created for Le Groupe Dance Lab. Strings, percussion and computer processing replace conventional melody and harmony with grain, resonance, friction and evolving sonic material.

Listen
Be A Prism

Be A Prism

Electronic dance work

Programme note

Be A Prism

Electronic dance work

An energetic electronic dance score built from splintered rhythm, bright timbral impacts and rapidly changing planes of sound.

Untitled

Untitled

Electroacoustic work for synthesized MIDI instruments

Programme note

Untitled

Electroacoustic work for synthesized MIDI instruments

Created with Menaka Thakkar, Untitled joins strict Bharatanatyam rhythmic patterns with a freely imagined pitch world. A melodic strand passes through environments ranging from modality to crushing chromatic clusters.

Entre-deux

Entre-deux

Electronic / mixed-media dance work

Listen

Programme note

Entre-deux

Electronic / mixed-media dance work

Created for Les Ballets Jazz de Montréal, Entre-deux unfolds across several movements as a vivid electronic dance score, balancing rhythmic drive with contrasting theatrical spaces.

Listen
Revealed by Fire

Revealed by Fire

Electroacoustic dance work

Listen

Programme note

Revealed by Fire

Electroacoustic dance work

Commissioned by Lata Pada, this memorial work responds to the Air India bombing through Bharatanatyam, electronic sound and a ritualized dramatic structure.

Listen

Catalogue

Solo

Solo and duo works that place instrumental personality, gesture and virtuosity in the foreground.

Twelve Touches

Twelve Touches

Solo piano

Listen

Programme note

Twelve Touches

Solo piano

A sequence of twelve concentrated piano pieces in which touch, resonance, attack and decay become primary compositional materials.

Listen

Programme note

Remembrance

Solo piano

A reflective piano work shaped by recollection, suspended sonority and restrained lyricism.

Scherzo Brillante

Scherzo Brillante

Free-bass accordion

Listen

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.

Listen
Qua Distantia

Qua Distantia

Violin and piano

Listen

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.

Listen
Untitled — Piano Solo

Untitled — Piano Solo

Solo piano

Listen

Programme note

Untitled — Piano Solo

Solo piano

A concise piano work whose neutral title directs attention toward the unfolding musical argument itself.

Listen
Apollo

Apollo

Solo piano

Listen

Programme note

Apollo

Solo piano

A piano solo of clear profile and strong dramatic projection, invoking brightness, energy and classical poise.

Listen

Biography

About Timothy Sullivan

Timothy Sullivan is a Canadian composer whose catalogue spans opera, orchestral and chamber music, dance, voice, choral writing, electroacoustic media and educational repertoire. His work combines dramatic pacing, lyrical intensity, rhythmic vitality and a continuing investigation of musical time. He has collaborated with major dance artists and organizations and has developed Multiple Tempi Notation as a precise approach to temporal counterpoint.

His music is written according to musical necessity rather than fashion: accessible contemporary music without becoming banal, predictable or needlessly complex.

Contact

Perform · Commission · Study · Collaborate

For performances, scores, commissions, lessons, conducting engagements or research enquiries: