"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, he/him/his) is a composer, pianist, and music director. Michael keeps very busy around Chicago as a Music Director with The Second City's national touring company, while also hustling as a freelance pianist/MD/producer for cabarets, shows, choirs, and everything in between. Professional productions include: 9 to 5 (Metropolis Theater), American Psycho (with Kokandy Productions), Queer Eye: The Musical Parody (at The Second City), and Children of Eden (with Broadway in Chicago) where he was able to work alongside Stephen Schwartz and Michelle Williams. He has collaborated with the Annoyance Theater, Chicago Fringe Opera, the Art Institute of Chicago, New Music Chicago, and has performed everywhere from the Green Mill to the Kennedy Center. A prolific composer, he has released over 13 albums and EPs of his own music. He earned his 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 is premiering his first song cycle musical, COMMON ROMANCE, June 28th at Constellation in Chicago.
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Photos by Sarah Elizabeth Larson
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Selected Credits.
- Second City National Touring Company - Music Director [Chicago\
- A Life in Music - double concerto for saxophone, piano, & wind ensemble for Kevin Carroll
- Fun Home - Associate Conductor [Porchlight, Chicago\
- Falsettos - Keys 2 (cover) [Court Theatre, Chicago\
- 9 to 5 - Keys 2 [Metropolis Performing Arts Center, Arlington Heights\
- Ego Death - MD & Music Producer for Adisa Williams' Album Release Show [Annoyance Theater, Chicago\
- American Psycho - Understudy (to the understudy) MD [Kokandy - Chicago\
- Children of Eden - Assistant Music Director/Keyboard I [Kokandy/Broadway in Chicago\
- Queer Eye: The Musical Parody - Understudy MD [Second City\
- Wicker Park, In Caricature - Commissioned by Chicago Fringe Opera for A City of Works
- Sounds of Pride - featured performer and composer [Chicago Fringe Opera\
- New Music Chicago Presents - Grand Delusions on a Small Scale with Michael R. Oldham [Chicago Cultural Center\
- Performance with the Paper Machete - [Green Mill Lounge, Chicago\
- Art Institute of Chicago Block Party 2019 - Art as Music
- New Amsterdam Composers Lab Fellow (what up fellow composers?)
- Merriam, A Matzah Ballin' Good Time - improv sketch show, Music Director/Pianist [Sketch Fest + Second City, 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
- 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\
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Photos by Nick Stetina
