about
Canadian guitarist Tim Beattie lives in Toronto, on the traditional territory of many nations including the Mississaugas of the Credit, the Anishnabeg, the Chippewa, the Haudenosaunee and the Wendat peoples. Currently a member of The Rebanks Family Fellowship Programme and International Performance Residency Program at the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto, Tim brings genre-defying programming to stages around the world.
“Moving between textures and moods with ease … Beattie’s guitar dazzles.” (Laura Stanley, MusicWorks Magazine) Active as a performer, collaborator, educator, and recording artist, Beattie’s recent activities include performances at the UN Climate Conference (Glasgow), St. Giles Cathedral (Edinburgh), Perth Concert Hall, and the Royal Overseas League (London); collaborative projects with actor Tucker St Ivany, filmmaker Rosslyn McCormick, Quartet Malamatina, and North American Guitar Trio; live recordings in Hailes Castle, Scotland for the Lammermuir Festival; recordings on period instruments from the collection at St. Cecilia’s Museum (Edinburgh); world-premieres of new works by Finn McLean and Gerald Garcia; and teaching at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland and University of St. Andrews. Beattie’s performance credits include appearances on Dutch national television and radio, FirstOntario Concert Hall (supporting KD Lang), Spiegelzaal in Het Concertgebouw Amsterdam (supporting Ludovico Einaudi), Cultura Ede (with Rosanne Philippens), Amsterdam Blue Note (with Nai Barghouti), Muziekgebouw Amsterdam (with CvA Score Collective), Brussels International Guitar Festival, Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland International Guitar Festival, Drumlanrig Castle, Perth Summer Festival, and Ullapool Guitar Festival. Named “Most Promising Youth” at the 2016 Arts and Culture Awards in Barrie, Ontario (Tim’s hometown), Beattie has since been recipient of numerous awards from the Amsterdam University of the Arts, Cleveland Institute of Music, Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, Royal Overseas League, Sylva Gelber Foundation, Worshipful Company of Musicians; and top prizes at the international guitar competitions in Antwerp, Brussels, Calgary, Hamilton and Uppsala, among others. Beattie's formal studies began at Toronto’s Royal Conservatory of Music, where as a pupil of Robert Hamilton, Tim was offered a full scholarship as the first guitarist ever invited to join the Taylor Academy for Young Artists. Tim completed undergraduate studies at the Cleveland Institute of Music and Conservatorium van Amsterdam – supported by the CIM Trust and Amsterdam University of the Arts 'Talent Grant’ – and graduated in 2019 with the distinction 'Cum Laude’. Beattie recently completed an Artist Diploma (’22) at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland after graduating from the RCS with a Master’s in Music Performance (‘21), supported by the Sylva Gelber Foundation, Tillett Trust, ROSL Study Award, and RCS Trust. |
"Classical guitar at its very best. Played by a most subtle and able artist … virtuoso passages projected with great variety of tone and attack … well brought out in Beattie’s intimate beautiful way.” |
awards
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artistic vision
Combining a deep respect for bygone traditions with a distinctive approach to programming, interpretation, collaboration, and presentation, Beattie aims to:
Engage audiences with sounds that are at once familiar and foreign, accessible and challenging, intimate and electrifying; Blur the lines between musical idiom, genre classification, and artistic discipline; Bridge perceived gaps between culture, creed, class, tribe, and tradition; Reject conventional notions of classical exceptionalism; Expand the repertoire, social contexts, and mediums through which concert music can be presented; Build a new audience for art music by sharing his passion and creative voice on an instrument that nearly everyone has direct reference to or experience with – either as listeners or practitioners – whether or not they’ve yet discovered their love for classical music. |