Biography

Tim Steiner is a  composer and musical director with a specialty in devised and collaborative performance. He has directed hundreds of creative projects throughout Europe and around the world and has worked in virtually every conceivable musical and social context. His work ranges from small-scale devised work to large-scale multi-layered works involving massed groups of professionals, amateurs and beginners.

His work explores the unique potential of any given collection of people at a specific time and place. In recent years he has focused on large-scale city-wide events exploring and celebrating the themes of diversity, inclusion and unity.  These events have included directing Floods of Fire Citizen’s Orchestra (Adelaide, Australia 2024 – Adelaide Festival), Mewga Muzika (Valletta, Malta 2018 ECOC), Mission Ruse (Ruse, Bulgaria, 2014). He has a long term working  partnership with the Portuguese Cultural Action group Ondamerala. with whom he has directed numerous Citizen’s Orchestras.

Tim is the artistic director of STOPESTRA, a 100 piece Portuguese ensemble of rock musicians. He was the creative director of the BBC’s Over the Rainbow, I’d Do Anything and Play it Again live events and has composed and devised numerous works for orchestras, ensembles, bands and collectives of all kinds. He directed SCORE! – a performance by 5000 young people in St. Andrew’s football Stadium, Hear and Now, a 15-year collaboration with communities in Bedford and Leicester and Strokestra with the RPO  in Hull, Orlando, Costa Mesa, Stoke and London.

He has devised and presented dozens of interactive family, schools and relaxed concerts throughout the UK and Europe including 25 years as artistic director of the RPOs Noisy Kids Concert.
He has developed particularly strong links with Portugal, Norway and Australia and has on going training and project leading relationships with the Casa Da Musica in Porto and the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London. He has long term relationships as a workshop leader and trainer with The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra,  Philharmonia Orchestra and the BBC singers, and has directed work for the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra,  London Chamber Orchestra,  BBC Symphony Orchestra, BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, BBC Concert Orchestra, Ulster Orchestra, BBC Philharmonic, Manchester Camerata, Britten Sinfonia, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra, English Sinfonia, Viva Det Norske blåseensemble, Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra, Arctic Philharmonic, Orquestra Filarmônica de Goiás  and the Stavanger Symphony Orchestra

Following a first class degree in Music from Sussex University in 1987 he was awarded a PhD in collaborative composition and improvisation from City University in 1992. Since 1994 he has been a professor at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama working as a core member of the team developing the Leadership and Connect programmes.
He has spoken and delivered classes at many conferences and colleges and on behalf of many organisations in the UK and overseas including the Royal College of Music, Antwerp Conservatoire, National Federation of Music Services, the British Council, and the Rikskonsertene in Oslo. He has delivered training programmes and master classes for many music organisations including Music Leader Northwest, Glyndebourne Opera, Goldsmiths College, Royal Northern College of Music, Music Network Dublin, in addition to numerous music services and arts centres. He has led business-training workshops in leadership and teamwork for Egg, Capitol One and Finesse Hotels.
For two years he presented a weekly radio show on London’s resonance FM for the Sonic Arts Network and curated a book and CD based on the show in 2005. This was listed in the top 10 CDs of the year by Italy’s Blow Up magazine. He directs the Quartet Electronische. He is an occasional though long-term contributor to the arts collective OMSK.