Product Code Database
Thomas Tycho AM MBE DMus (11 April 19284 April 2013) IMDb was a Hungary-born pianist, Conducting, composer and arranger. He was active in both classical music and pop.
He was associated with musical productions on Australian television for many years from its inception in 1956, including such programs as The Mavis Bramston Show. The recorded version of the Australian national anthem "Advance Australia Fair" that is now usually used to accompany singers at major sporting and community events is Tommy Tycho's arrangement. Tommy Tycho website He wrote a number of film scores, and his activities bridged both popular and classical styles.
He commenced his musical career at ABC Radio in the 1950s performing a weekly recital titled "Handful of Keys" which led to a regular popular radio programme with his own chamber group The Thomas Tycho Players. Tycho joined ATN7 in 1956 and was Musical Director at the Seven Network for 15 years, 1956–1971, Under his directorship he composed music for shows such as Revue '61 & '62, Startime, The Mavis Bramston Show and composed for iconic programs including Anzacs, Penthouse, Riptide, Your can't see 'Round Corners, until he left in 1971. He also composed the theme for the television program and movie, Number 96. Tycho was involved in nine Royal Command Performances, and has conducted all the ABC symphony orchestras. His work was an important element of many official openings (Sydney Opera House, Sydney Entertainment Centre, Sydney Football Stadium, Queensland Performing Arts Centre, Brisbane 1982 Commonwealth Games, World Expo 88, Darling Harbour, major sporting grand finals, etc.). In 2008 he performed for Crown Princess Mary of Denmark at the opening of the Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute. (In 1980, after a heart attack, he had been treated personally by Dr Victor Chang.)
The Australian artists with whom he worked include Peter Allen, Ricky May, Olivia Newton-John, Julie Anthony, John Farnham, Anthony Warlow, Jill Perryman, Barry Crocker, Kamahl, James Morrison, Frank Bennett (Singer, saxophonist), David Campbell, Judi Connelli, violinist Ian Cooper, Suzanne Johnstone, Jackie Love, James Blundell, Don Burrows, Andy Firth, Marina Prior, Rob Guest, Jimmy Little, Tommy Emmanuel, Normie Rowe, Rhonda Burchmore, Ingrid James, Donald Cant and many others. He also worked with overseas performers such as Sammy Davis Jr., Nat King Cole, Shirley Bassey, Louis Armstrong, Jerry Lewis, Frank Sinatra and many others.
Tommy Tycho suffered a serious stroke in 2008. Sydney Morning Herald National Stroke Foundation He then lived in a nursing home where he received regular therapy; though his left side was paralysed, he would compose and play with his right hand. Brisbane Times, 17 April 2010
He died on 4 April 2013, aged 84, as a result of complications associated with pneumonia.
In 2003 Tommy Tycho was commissioned by Symphony Australia to compose an overture for the 75th birthday celebrations of the West Australian Symphony Orchestra. That same year he conducted the Queensland Orchestra for concerts with Anthony Warlow, and many others. He was the arranger and conductor for Warlow's album, Let's Face the Music; and he conducted the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra in a Lounge concert.
Tycho wrote a series of special feature arrangements for Australian clarinetist Andy Firth, when Firth was featured as guest artist with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra in 2006.
Biography
Tycho was born in Budapest in April 1928. His father was a senior government official and his mother was an opera singer ABC who had retired to raise a family. ABC: Talking Heads, 29 August 2005 His musical life started as a child prodigy pianist. He played George Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue with the Budapest Philharmonic Orchestra at age 10. He had been introduced to the work by his teacher, Egon Petri. He commenced studying at the Franz Liszt Academy of Music in Budapest, where his teachers included Leo Weiner and Zoltán Kodály. do-re-mi Music for Children (New South Wales) He and his parents had adopted Lutheranism in an attempt to disguise their Jews, but to no avail – he was interned in a German forced labour camp in 1943 at age 15, and was lucky to survive. He resumed his musical studies after the war, but left Hungary after the Communist takeover while still only in his third year of study. From 1948 to 1951 he lived in Iran, where he was the personal pianist for the Shah of Iran. Jason Dasey, SMH, 17 June 1982 There he met a Hungarian soprano named Eva Komor, who became his wife. They emigrated to Australia in 1951.
Compositions
His compositions and arrangements include:
Discography
Charting albums
Honours and awards
Among his many accolades can be counted:
Mo Awards
The Australian Entertainment Mo Awards (commonly known informally as the Mo Awards), were annual Australian entertainment industry awards. They recognise achievements in live entertainment in Australia from 1975 to 2016. Tommy Tycho was Patron of the Mo Awards for many years and won one award during this time..
(wins only)
|-
| 1984
| Tommy Tycho
| John Campbell Fellowship Award
|
|-
Bibliography
(1995). 9780909608316, Brolga Pub.. ISBN 9780909608316
External links
Categories: Jewish Australian Musicians, Hungarian Male Conductors, Australian Conductors, Hungarian Musical Theatre Composers, Hungarian Film Score Composers, Male Film Score Composers, Australian Film Score Composers, Australian Music Arrangers, Members Of The Order Of Australia, Australian Members Of The Order Of The British Empire, Jewish Hungarian Musicians, Musicians From Budapest, 1928 Births, 2013 Deaths, Deaths From Pneumonia In New South Wales, 20th-century Hungarian Pianists, 20th-century Australian Pianists, 21st-century Hungarian Pianists, 21st-century Australian Pianists, Australian Male Pianists, 20th-century Conductors, 20th-century Australian Male Musicians, Daly-wilson Big Band Members, Franz Liszt Academy Of Music Alumni, National Anthem Writers
|
|
