Tim Janis


Tim Janis is an American composer with 10 Billboard charting CDs, over one million albums sold, five television specials, and a constant touring presence.

Career

Tim Janis has worked with some of the top artists in the music and entertainment business including Paul McCartney, Billy Joel, Ray Charles, George Clooney, Jackie Evancho, and James Earl Jones. He has also conducted the Czech National Symphony, the Kwazulu Natal Philharmonic and the Hartford Symphony Orchestra.
On 30 November 2012, Janis produced "The American Christmas Carol" concert for Kate Winslet’s Golden Hat Foundation supported by Sarah McLachlan, Loreena McKennitt, Andrea Corr, Hayley Westenra, Sleepy Man Banjo Boys,an orchestra, a choir, etc. in Carnegie Hall.
He has continued to produce similar concerts for 2013 and 2014. In 2018, he directed the musical movie Button proceeds to benefit The Golden Hat Foundation.
According to Vulture.com, Janis is most likely the man identified as "The Composer" in the 2019 book Sounds Like Titanic by Jessica Chiccehitto Hindman. While it is not confirmed that Janis's live orchestral performances are typically mimed to a pre recorded CD, this view is supported by an analysis of his manner of conducting, which is clearly for the benefit of the audience rather than for any practical purpose. His gestures are frequently more or less unrelated to what is happening in the music.
Janis's musical style uses a number of clichés developed in the film industry, such as "celtic" flute and recorder playing and an unusually high frequency of stirring cymbal rolls. These are usually orchestrated significantly less well than a typical Hollywood film score. Harmonically and melodically Janis's music is unremittingly vacuous. In the words of Hindman "he could compose, but only a little bit."
In Hindman's book, the glittering career of "The Composer" in spite of his obvious lack of special talent is, however, principally used as the focal point for a critique of the late capitalist culture that allowed it to develop rather than being attacked directly.

Selected discography