After breaking through at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Australian comedian/composer Tim Minchin first made a name for himself as an edgy self-accompanying music satirist/social commentator. His piano style, ranging from raucous to refined, made him at home self-accompanying solo or playing out in front of symphony orchestras in venues such as the Royal Albert Hall and the Sydney Opera House. Describing himself as a “hack pianist,” he was quoted by Interview One as saying “I’m a good musician for a comedian and I’m a good comedian for a musician, but if I had to do any of them in isolation, I dunno.”
In more recent years, he’s branched out into acting (including the TV series Californication; the TV series Upright, which he also wrote; and stage roles as Mozart in Amadeus and Judas in Jesus Christ Superstar, among many others). More recently, Minchin has composed music and book for the musical Matilda, based on the 1988 Roald Dahl book of the same title. The show had successful runs on Broadway and the West End as well as tours of the US, UK, Ireland, New Zealand, and Australia, winning myriad awards in the process.
Minchin is not generally known for his use of modulation, instead relying on his gifts for wide-ranging melody and evocative lyrics. But he throws a gorgeous key change into Matilda’s “My House” at 2:52 (the music starts at the 0:30 mark).
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