Timothy Dowling

Australian Hometown: Melbourne
Education: Victorian College of the Arts

PROFESSIONAL BIOGRAPHY
Melbourne-born trombonist Timothy Dowling has been living and working in the Netherlands since 1988. Equally at home on modern or historical trombones, he divides his time between his position as principal trombonist of the Residentie Orchestra, The Hague, and performing with various Baroque and Renaissance ensembles.

After playing two seasons in the Australian Youth Orchestra, he began his orchestral career in Orchestra Victoria in 1979. Appointments as Principal Trombonist in the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra and Australian Opera and Ballet Orchestra (now Opera Australia Orchestra) followed before he became Associate Principal Trombone of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra in 1986.

Upon being appointed Solo-trombonist of the Residentie Orchestra, The Hague in 1988, Timothy emigrated to the Netherlands. With the Residentie Orchestra, he has toured Europe, Japan, and South America, and has worked with many notable conductors including Gennady Roszdestvensky, Franz Welser-Möst, Yevgeny Svetlanov, Hans Vonk, Jaap van Zweden and Neeme Järvi. He has also often performed as a guest principal trombonist in the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra, Netherlands Radio Chamber Orchestra, and Melbourne Symphony Orchestra.

Since 2015 Timothy has performed with the Australian World Orchestra in three seasons under conductors Zubin Mehta and Alexander Briger in India, the UK, and Australia.

Timothy is also a noted performer on historical instruments and a founder member of the baroque ensemble In Stil Moderno. He has performed with Orchestre de la Champs Elysees, La Petite Bande, Weser Renaissance, Il Fondamento, and Combattimento Consort. For more than 15 years he has been a member of Anima Eterna Bruges.

Between 2005 and 2023 Timothy was a Professor of Trombone at the Royal Conservatorium in The Hague and has given masterclasses in Germany, Denmark, and Australia.

Timothy began playing brass instruments at the age of nine in Wagga Wagga. Following a move to Canberra, he continued learning trombone at the Canberra School of Music with Leonard Fischer. He also gained valuable orchestral experience in the Canberra Youth and Canberra Symphony Orchestras. After returning to Melbourne in 1977 to study at the Victorian College of the Arts with Roger Davies and Michael Mulcahy, he graduated (with Distinction) in 1980.

Last updated 2023