TIMUR
About this Artist
Grammy-nominated Kazakh American singer TIMUR, “the extravagantly transgressive tenor, dangerous and seductive” (Mark Swed, Los Angeles Times), has made solo appearances with the Los Angeles Philharmonic (Soundcheck, Theatre of the World, Orango, Boris Godunov, Shadow of Stalin Festival, Oedipus Rex, 1c Liederabend op. LA), Comédie de Genève (The Golden Dragon), PROTOTYPE Festival (Black Lodge, Acquanetta, Anatomy Theater), The Industry LA (Crescent City, Hopscotch, Young Caesar), Magdeburg Theater (Salome), Berlin Konzerthaus (R. Hot), Santa Cecilia Academy (Silvano Sylvano), Long Beach Opera (The Wise Woman), NOF (The Importance of Being Earnest, Powder Her Face), Müpa Budapest (Le Grand Macabre), and Hawaii Opera Theater (Eugene Onegin). He premiered over forty opera, concert, and film compositions, collaborating with renowned composers, including Ellen Reid, Anne LeBaron, Thomas Adès, David Lang, Michael Gordon, Todd Machover, Kate Moore, David T. Little, Gerald Barry, Evan Ziporyn, Mohammed Fairouz, Peter Eötvös, Tobias Picker, Charles Bernstein, Nick Urata, Joel Goldsmith, Louis Andriessen, the late Gian Carlo Menotti, and the late Silvano Bussotti.
Experimental vocal stylings of TIMUR, described by The New York Times as “a marvel of expressive inflections, from golden falsetto...to ghoulish inhalations,” are reflected in his glam band Timur and the Dime Museum, hailed as a “symphony of vocal talents” (LA Magazine). In 2015, the band premiered Collapse, a requiem by Daniel Corral, produced by Beth Morrison Projects with shows at REDCAT, Miami Light Project, Operadagen Rotterdam, and BAM’s Next Wave Festival. TIMUR and his band were featured in the Opera Philadelphia’s world premiere of Black Lodge, a metal opera composed by David T. Little and produced by Beth Morrison Projects, followed by shows at CAP UCLA in 2024 and PROTOTYPE festival in 2025. The opera was nominated for a Grammy and won the prestigious Music Theater NOW Award in 2024.
His solo dark musical comedy The Great Soviet Bucket, produced by TIMUR’s long-time collaborator Beth Morrison and directed by Emmy- and Annie-nominee Sandra Powers, premiered in 2023 at Miami Light Project. In 2021, TIMUR created Klaus From Space, a show about Klaus Nomi featuring songs by Kristian Hoffman and commissioned by NOF with performances at Klanggg_Focus Musiktheater 2021 (Switzerland), O. Festival 2023 (Netherlands), and the eXoplanet Festival 2025 (Germany).
TIMUR is a co-creator of Silent Steppe Cantata by Anne LeBaron, a performance collaboration project between Kazakhstan and the United States, funded in part by Samruk-Kazyna. His voice is featured on the soundtracks of Ruby Sparks and Hulu’s The Great, and he appears as a soloist on recordings released by Naxos USA, Sony, Milan Records, Nonesuch, Cantaloupe, Deutsche Grammophon, and ANTI-. TIMUR is active as a film producer, working on many projects, including Sundance 2019 winner Clemency (Alfre Woodard), Richard Stanley’s sci-fi horror Color Out of Space (Nicholas Cage), and thriller Measure of Revenge (Bella Thorne).