Timothy O'Dwyer has been a member of ELISION Ensemble since the early 1990s. He is a saxophonist, composer and educator currently head of jazz studies with the Faculty of Performing Arts at LASALLE-SIA College of the Arts in Singapore.
Since graduating from the Victorian College of The Arts (Melbourne University) in 1993 and post graduate studies with saxophonist/improviser Evan Parker and composer Richard Barrett in London and Amsterdam in 1995 he has been involved in a diverse range of performance and compositional activity from punk-rock to contemporary classical to straight and free jazz to surround sound installation. He has received Aria and Bell Jazz awards for best jazz album in 2003 in collaboration with pianist Andrea Keller and a Green Room Award (Theatre) for best new cabaret (DADA Cabaret) in 2002 in collaboration with Clocked Out Productions.
Since 1995 he has toured, recorded and performed at major arts festivals throughout Europe, Asia and Australia from the Sydney Opera House to the Midlands Railway workshop in Perth to Berlin's Hebbel Theatre to Tokyo's Saitama Concert Hall to Radio Bremen. Timothy has performed at contemporary music, theatre and improvised music festivals throughout Europe including The Ultima Festival in Oslo, Zurich's Theatre Spectacle, The dOek Festival in Amsterdam and every major international festival in Australia. In addition to ELISION, he has toured extensively throughout Europe, Japan the United States and Australia as a soloist/composer with his own post-punk-jazz group bucketrider and his free jazz unit The Tim O'Dwyer Trio.
Since relocating to Singapore in September 2004, Timothy has been an active member of the live music scene having performed several times at "The Esplanade", Harry's Boat Quay, as a soloist with The Singapore Wind Symphony at Victoria Concert Hall and has collaborated with Gamelan Asmaradana and the acclaimed Toy Factory Theatre Ensemble at the 2005 Singapore Arts Festival. He has worked with among others: Liza Lim, Sonic Youth, Paul Grabowsky, KK Null, Chaya Chernowin, Bobby Previte, John Butcher and Japanese sculpture Katsushige Nakahashi.
Recent concert appearances include The Jazz:NOW Festival the Sydney Opera House with his trio and a collaboration with Dutch group featuring Eric Boeren/Michael Vatcher/Wilbert Dejoode at the Wangarratta Festival of Jazz; The Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival (www.hcmf.co.uk)(UK) where his work ‘Gravity’ featuring saxophonist John Butcher was given its European premier by ELISION Ensemble. Timothy recently completed a new composition for the film “Temasek” (‘a pre-history of Singapore before colonialism directed by Tzu Nyen Ho ) which is on permanent exhibition at the National Museum of Singapore.
"O'Dwyer seems to cast off all sense of time, place, and indeed self...his visceral, driven performance made you feel like he was exposing everything the human body has to show."
—Harriet Cunningham, Sydney Morning Herald
"....this musician truly put himself on the line....In one highly effective segment the densely compacted rapid articulations and tongue slaps were like someone's excited speech patterns. Each fragment tapering off like an unfinished sentence."
—Gillian Wills The Courier Mail- Australian premiere of "Sight and Sound of a Storm in Sky Country"
"O'Dwyer's performance was captivating..."
—Chris Reid, Realtime Magazine. -Australian premiere of "Sight and Sound of a Storm in Sky Country"
"These are not just inspired improvisations: they're improvised compositions, and contain as many potential lessons for composers as for improvisers."
—Richard TOOP Sounds Australia #54
"When he goes, he goes right off, in a manner that would probably make Coltrane himself look a tad reserved and understated..."
—Bob Baker Fish and Tim Themi Inpress Magazine