Christopher Tin
Christopher Chiyan Tin (born May 21, 1976) is an American composer of art music, often composed for film, television, and video game soundtracks. His work is primarily orchestral and choral, often with a world music influence. He won two Grammy Awards for his classical crossover album Calling All Dawns.
Christopher Tin
Christopher Chiyan Tin
May 21, 1976
Redwood City, California, U.S.
- Composer
- conductor
- musicarranger
- record producer
2000–present
田志仁
Tián Zhìrén
Tián Zhìrén
Tien Chih-jen
Tin4 Ji3 Yan4
Tin4 Zi3 Jan4
Tin is perhaps best known for his choral piece Baba Yetu from the video game Civilization IV, which in 2011 became the first piece of video game music to win a Grammy Award.[1] His Grammy win was considered a significant milestone for the critical acceptance of music from video games, and following his win the Recording Academy retitled their visual media categories to become more inclusive of video game soundtracks,[2] before eventually creating a dedicated Grammy award for 'Best Score Soundtrack for Video Games and Other Interactive Media'.[3]
Early life and education[edit]
Tin was raised in Palo Alto, California, by immigrant parents from Hong Kong.[4] He worked on his undergraduate education at Stanford University with a brief period as an exchange student at the University of Oxford, double majoring in Music Composition and English Literature, and minoring in Art History.[5][6] During this period he supplemented his classical studies by participating in various jazz, musical theatre, and world music student groups.[7] He graduated in 1998, receiving a BA with Honors and continued to study at Stanford, receiving an MA in Interdisciplinary Studies in Humanities (with an emphasis in film studies) in 1999.[8]
In 1999, Tin was admitted to the Royal College of Music in London for their MMus in Composition for Screen program, and simultaneously received a Fulbright Scholarship, the first to be awarded for film scoring.[5] There he studied composition with Joseph Horovitz and orchestration with Julian Anderson, as well as conducting with Neil Thomson. He graduated with Distinction, also winning the Joseph Horovitz composition prize as the top student with the highest overall marks in his course.[8]
Tin married Dyna Kau in 2013 and they have a daughter together, Penelope Rose, born in 2018.[9]
Career[edit]
Early career (2000–2005)[edit]
While a student at the Royal College of Music, he completed his first commission, the string quartet 'Lacrymosa' for the US Embassy in London.[5] He also found his first professional employment as a staff arranger for Silva Screen Records; his job was to transcribe orchestral film scores (by John Williams, James Horner, John Barry and others) by ear so that they could be re-recorded by live orchestra for album release.[10]
He moved to Los Angeles in 2000 and continued to arrange scores for Silva Screen Records to pay his way while searching for more permanent employment.[8] His first internship was with Hans Zimmer.[8] Subsequently, he found freelance work with composers Joel McNeely, who hired him to make synthesized mockups of his film scores for a series of Disney films; and John Ottman, who gave him some incidental music to write on X2: X-Men United.[11] He also worked for record producer Michael Brook, who took him to India on tour as a keyboardist.[12]
In 2003 he participated in the Sundance Institute Film Music Lab[13] where he met jazz pianist Billy Childs, who referred him for his first composing job: scoring a documentary for NY Times Television.[14] This led to a period of modest success writing music for New York-based documentary filmmakers (notably Oscar-nominee Deborah Dickson) and advertising clients (notably Puma).[11][15]
Collaborative projects[edit]
In 2009, Tin and multi-instrumentalist and producer Shoji Kameda formed a Los Angeles-based production duo, Stereo Alchemy. Their debut album God of Love, was released on Valentine's Day, February 14, 2012. It featured a variety of Renaissance and Romantic era poems (from Thomas Carew, Christina Rossetti, John Donne and others) reinvented as lyrics for trip hop and synth pop songs.[57]
In 2015 Tin composed the orchestral arrangements for trance artist BT's remix album Electronic Opus.[58]
In 2017 Tin announced an EDM-meets-orchestra collaboration with Australian DJ TyDi called Collide. Their first single "Closing In", featuring vocals by Dia Frampton, was released October 6, 2017.[59]
Tin collaborated with Lang Lang on the 2016 release of a piano and orchestra suite of music from Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.[60] Additionally, Tin has collaborated with Danny Elfman and Alan Menken.[61]
Tin has received commissions by Stratus Chamber Orchestra, Bangor Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra at St. Matthew's and ISCMS Festival. He also co-created the startup sound for the original Microsoft Surface computing platform.[62]
Tin arranged a number of jazz tunes for 2018 film 'Crazy Rich Asians', one being based on the Chinese melody, When Will You Return?. This arrangement was chosen by director Jon M. Chu and Warner Brothers to open the film.[63]
Tin's other film credits include writing additional music for Sausage Party (2016), Suddenly Seventeen (2016), Tess (2016), Dante's Inferno (2010), Deadspace: Aftermath (2011), Hoodwinked Too! Hood Vs. Evil (2011) and X2: X-Men United (2003).[64]
Other positions[edit]
Tin is Honorary Artistic Director of the United Nations Chamber Music Society, Honorary President of the International Choral Festival Wales,[62] and is a patron of El Sistema France.[66] He is also an honorary board member of the Chinese American Museum DC.[67]