"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 imagery, story, and imagination into his music, with influences spanning from indie art rock, french impressionism, film music, and surrealist Americana.
Michael just finished a stint in the studio working on his new album, which will be out in early 2019. In the meantime, check out his latest single, Sentiments Unannounced but in Tired Eyes (Version 2018).
Music In Segments, Michael's newest experimental work written exclusively for Instagram looping video, is available to play now.
He has self-released several EPs and singles of his music digitally, including 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 also penned a brand new score for Georges Méliès' famous silent film, Le Voyage Dans La Lune from 1902. It was commissioned by the Lewis University Monarch Wind Quintet of Romeoville, Illinois, and was premiered live-to-picture (2016).
His choral works have received several premieres and accolades, as well: Ceaseless and One Delusionary Loon Lands in the Pocket of the Earth (with words by performance artist and toychestral-composer-extraordinaire Alexa Dexa).
Michael was mentioned as a top 30 finalist in the Oticons Faculty International Film Music Competition, as well as a nominee for the Vienna Symphonic Library's International Film Scoring Competition. NPR Music also mentioned his solo piano piece, Phantasmagorical Religious Exercises on their Tumblr.
Michael has received the Georges Delerue Memorial Scholarship award in film scoring, as well as participation in an internship with Paramount Pictures. His concert 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.
Michael just finished a stint in the studio working on his new album, which will be out in early 2019. In the meantime, check out his latest single, Sentiments Unannounced but in Tired Eyes (Version 2018).
Music In Segments, Michael's newest experimental work written exclusively for Instagram looping video, is available to play now.
He has self-released several EPs and singles of his music digitally, including 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 also penned a brand new score for Georges Méliès' famous silent film, Le Voyage Dans La Lune from 1902. It was commissioned by the Lewis University Monarch Wind Quintet of Romeoville, Illinois, and was premiered live-to-picture (2016).
His choral works have received several premieres and accolades, as well: Ceaseless and One Delusionary Loon Lands in the Pocket of the Earth (with words by performance artist and toychestral-composer-extraordinaire Alexa Dexa).
Michael was mentioned as a top 30 finalist in the Oticons Faculty International Film Music Competition, as well as a nominee for the Vienna Symphonic Library's International Film Scoring Competition. NPR Music also mentioned his solo piano piece, Phantasmagorical Religious Exercises on their Tumblr.
Michael has received the Georges Delerue Memorial Scholarship award in film scoring, as well as participation in an internship with Paramount Pictures. His concert 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.
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All photos by Nick Stetina