"What I love about Michael's compositions is the way he works with variations on a theme. Themes punctuated by so many individual motifs, then revisited as an oblique variation, as if the living theme is undergoing a rapid metamorphosis. Michael cites surrealism as an influence on his work, and it can sound as if the music is playing tricks on you, as if a pattern of notes could change color before your eyes." -Jeff Gregerson, Pink Noise Podcast
Michael R. Oldham (b. 1989 Braidwood, IL) is a composer and pianist who weaves artwork, story, and imagination into his work. Whether experimenting with looping videos on Instagram as the "parts" of a piece that anyone can play (Music In Segments - 2018), utilizing repeating gif images of old silent films as inspiration for a twelve-movement work (Music In Gifs - 2019), or translating great works of art into music (The Egon Schiele Pieces - upcoming), Michael's thirst for unusual storytelling through music is never quenched.
Continuing this trend, his work as composer-as-storyteller is ever-present in the albums, EPs, and singles he has self-released. Recent albums include Three Vignettes (2017), which is a work of three movements with short stories for violin and piano, The Los Angeles Miseries (2016), which is a set of pieces for solo piano on perspectives attained while driving across America from Chicago to Los Angeles, Grand Delusions on a Small Scale (2015), which features early solo piano works, as well as Fantasies for Piano (2014), which is a six-movement dissection of some of his favorite songs by artists including Fiona Apple, Dirty Projectors, My Brightest Diamond, Andrew Bird, St. Vincent, and Sufjan Stevens.
Michael's new album, In Select Theaters, is out now. The first single and visual, Alternate Music for "How to Steal a Million," is available to listen and watch now thanks to Textura.org. Also check out his single, Sentiments Unannounced but in Tired Eyes (Version 2018).
NPR Music mentioned his solo piano piece, Phantasmagorical Religious Exercises on their Tumblr once.
Michael has received the Georges Delerue Memorial Scholarship award in film scoring, and has participated in an internship with Paramount Pictures. His music has garnered awards from Berklee's Contemporary Symphony Orchestra Composition Competition, the Music Institute of Chicago's Generation Next Young Composer's Competition, the Kalistos Chamber Orchestra, as well as premieres at the New England Conservatory, the Kennedy Center, Chicago's WFMT radio, and the Green Lake Music Festival in Green Lake, Wisconsin.
Michael earned his Bachelor's degree in Film Scoring and Composition from Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts, and studied briefly at Philippos Nakas Conservatory in Athens, Greece. He also keeps quite busy as a rehearsal and performance accompanist in and around Chicago, including recent work as music director with Chicago's illustrious improv institution, Second City. With a list of works spanning from larger orchestral tapestries to solo piano pieces, Michael has proven himself to be a tenacious, imaginative composer ready to transport audiences into his outlandish musical phantasmagoria.
Continuing this trend, his work as composer-as-storyteller is ever-present in the albums, EPs, and singles he has self-released. Recent albums include Three Vignettes (2017), which is a work of three movements with short stories for violin and piano, The Los Angeles Miseries (2016), which is a set of pieces for solo piano on perspectives attained while driving across America from Chicago to Los Angeles, Grand Delusions on a Small Scale (2015), which features early solo piano works, as well as Fantasies for Piano (2014), which is a six-movement dissection of some of his favorite songs by artists including Fiona Apple, Dirty Projectors, My Brightest Diamond, Andrew Bird, St. Vincent, and Sufjan Stevens.
Michael's new album, In Select Theaters, is out now. The first single and visual, Alternate Music for "How to Steal a Million," is available to listen and watch now thanks to Textura.org. Also check out his single, Sentiments Unannounced but in Tired Eyes (Version 2018).
NPR Music mentioned his solo piano piece, Phantasmagorical Religious Exercises on their Tumblr once.
Michael has received the Georges Delerue Memorial Scholarship award in film scoring, and has participated in an internship with Paramount Pictures. His music has garnered awards from Berklee's Contemporary Symphony Orchestra Composition Competition, the Music Institute of Chicago's Generation Next Young Composer's Competition, the Kalistos Chamber Orchestra, as well as premieres at the New England Conservatory, the Kennedy Center, Chicago's WFMT radio, and the Green Lake Music Festival in Green Lake, Wisconsin.
Michael earned his Bachelor's degree in Film Scoring and Composition from Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts, and studied briefly at Philippos Nakas Conservatory in Athens, Greece. He also keeps quite busy as a rehearsal and performance accompanist in and around Chicago, including recent work as music director with Chicago's illustrious improv institution, Second City. With a list of works spanning from larger orchestral tapestries to solo piano pieces, Michael has proven himself to be a tenacious, imaginative composer ready to transport audiences into his outlandish musical phantasmagoria.
Selected Credits.
- Art Institute of Chicago Block Party 2019 - Art as Music
- New Amsterdam Composers Lab
- Merriam, A Matzah Ballin' Good Time - improv sketch show, Music Director/Pianist [Sketch Fest, Chicago\
- Shalom! - improv sketch show, Music Director/Pianist [Second City, Chicago\
- Acquaintances - improv sketch show, Music Director/Pianist [Second City, Chicago\
- Le Voyage Dans La Lune - new score for the classic silent film by Georges Méliès, commissioned and premiered live-to-picture by the Monarch Wind Quintet of Lewis University [Romeoville, IL\
- Vienna Symphonic Library's International Film Scoring Competition - Top 10 Finalist
- Oticons Faculty International Film Music Competition - Top 30 Finalist
- Battleship Potemkin - additional music, orchestration, score prep. for Berklee's Silent Film Orchestra + composer Sheldon Mirowitz [Kennedy Center, Washington D.C. & Coolidge Corner Theater, Brookline, MA\
- Paramount Pictures Internship - cataloguing + animated short film score [Boston, MA\
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All photos by Nick Stetina