Timothy McCormack

Timothy McCormack joined the Conservatory in 2019 and is an assistant professor of composition.

McCormack has been commissioned by ensembles and organizations including the ELISION Ensemble, Ensemblekollektiv Berlin, Klangforum Wien, the JACK Quartet, musikFabrik, Curious Chamber Players, the [Switch~ Ensemble], the Wittener Tage für neue Kammermusik, and the impuls Festival. His music has also been performed by Ensemble Recherche, Ensemble Dal Niente, the Talea Ensemble, and Ensemble Nikel. His music has been released on the Kairos and Huddersfield Contemporary Records labels. McCormack received the Ernst von Siemens Music Foundation Composers’ Prize in 2018, and won the Impuls International Composition Competition in 2019, resulting in the creation of a new work for Vienna’s Klangforum Wien.

McCormack received his Ph.D. in composition from Harvard University in 2019, where he studied with Chaya Czernowin and Hans Tutschku. He also studied at the University of Huddersfield with Aaron Cassidy and Liza Lim, and at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music with Lewis Nielson and Randolph Coleman. Outside of music, McCormack has also studied contemporary dance with Jill Johnson and worked in master class or choreographic settings with William Forsythe, John Jasperse, Christopher Roman, and Riley Watts.

Professional Awards and Recognitions

• Winner, Impuls International Composition Competition (2019)
• Ernst von Siemens Music Foundation Composers’ Prize (2018)
• John Green Fellowship (Harvard University, 2017)
• Oscar Straus Schafer Teaching Fellowship (Harvard University, 2017)
• George Arthur Knight Prize (Harvard University, 2014)

Notable Recent Works

• The Hollow of the Heart, for solo Paetzold contrabass recorder and ensemble, commissioned by the Ernst Von Siemens Music Foundation for Anna Petrini and the Curious Chamber Players (2019)—Composer
• “new work,” for solo Paetzold contrabass recorder, commissioned by the Swedish Arts Grants Committee for Anna Petrini (2019)—Composer
• “glost fire,” for percussion trio, commissioned by Line Upon Line Percussion (2019)—Composer
• Sediment, for 12 instruments, commissioned by impuls International Ensemble and Composers Academy for Contemporary Music for Klangforum Wien (2018)—Composer
• your body is a volume, for string quartet, commissioned by the Westdeutschen Rundfunks for the JACK Quartet and the Wittener Tage für neue Kammermusik (2017)—Composer