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Mr Tim White OAM

Tim is Coordinator of Classical Music at the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts. He leads WAAPA’s percussion programme, and directs the Indian Ocean Ensemble and Defying Gravity percussion.

Background

Tim White is Co-ordinator of Classical Music at WAAPA. He has led WAAPA’s percussion programme since 1994, oversees all of WAAPA’s classical ensembles, supervises postgraduate students, and directs the award-winning ‘Defying Gravity’ percussion ensemble.

Tim played more than 3,000 concerts with the West Australian Symphony Orchestra - where he was Principal Percussionist for 28 years – and performed with all ten of Australia’s professional symphony and theatre orchestras. As a concerto soloist, Tim performed the Australian and German premieres of Per Norgard’s ‘Percussion Concerto’ as well as the WA premieres of percussion concertos by Richard Mills, Paul Creston and Darius Milhaud. He’s also performed as a soloist for the Perth Festival.

Tim was born in Canberra and grew up on Christmas Island. As a teenager he fell in love with The Beatles, got hooked on classical music and took up percussion, studying in Sydney, Denmark, Germany and the USA. He holds two Masters degrees in music performance, won a Churchill Fellowship in 1999, and a Fulbright Scholar Award in 2021.

In 2015 Tim won the federal government’s ‘Australian Award for Teaching Excellence’, and in 2021 he was awarded a Medal of the Order of Australia for his services to music.

Tim has performed with Ray Charles, Luciano Pavarotti, Placido Domingo, Jose Carreras, Dame Joan Sutherland, Dame Kiri Te Kanawa, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Charles Dutoit, James Galway, Sumi Jo, Midori, Bryn Terfel, Joshua Bell, Nigel Kennedy, John Williams, Dame Evelyn Glennie, Ben Folds, Tim Minchin, Jon Lord, Glen Campbell, Dionne Warwick, John Farnham, Gary Burton and Chick Corea.

  • 2016 - present - Coordinator of Classical Music
  • 1994 - present - Senior Lecturer in Music, Area Head of Percussion and Musical Director of WAAPA’s ‘Defying Gravity’ percussion ensemble
  • 1985 - 2013 - Principal Percussionist of the WA Symphony Orchestra
  • 2010 - Musical Director of Australian Youth Orchestra’s ‘National Music Camp’
  • 2003 - Musical Director of Australian National Academy of Music’s ‘Rhythms of Life’ Festival
  • 1983-84 - Principal Percussionist of the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra
  • 1981-83 - freelance performer with Sydney Symphony Orchestra, Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Australian Chamber Orchestra, Australian Opera and Ballet Orchestra, Queensland Symphony Orchestra, Adelaide Symphony Orchestra and Orchestra Victoria

Professional associations

  • Percussive Arts Society
  • Music Council of Australia
  • Australian Music Centre
  • Musicological Society of Australia
  • ABODA WA

Awards and recognition

National and International awards

  • 2021 - Medal of the Order of Australia
  • 2010 - Musical Director of Australian Youth Orchestra’s National Music Camp
  • 2003 - Director of Australian National Academy of Music’s ‘Rhythms of Life’ percussion festival
  • 1999 - Churchill Fellowship
  • 1991/92 - German Government DAAD Scholarship

University and National Teaching awards

  • 2015 - Australian Award for Teaching Excellence
  • 2014 - ECU Vice-Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Teaching

National and International Research awards

  • 2021 - Fulbright Scholar Award

Research areas and interests

  • Contemporary Percussion
  • New Music
  • Multi-Genre Collaboration
  • Orchestral Music
  • Art of Performance
  • Performance Psychology
  • Music Education
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