Christopher Tin

American composer

Christopher Chiyan Tin (born May 21, 1976) is an American composer and conductor. His work is primarily orchestral and choral, often with a world music influence. He is a two-time Grammy Award winner, and has won various awards for his work in video game soundtracks and studio albums.

Tin is best known for his work on title themes for the Civilization video game series, specifically the main theme "Baba Yetu" from the video game Civilization IV, which, at the 53rd Annual Grammy Awards in 2011, became the first piece of video game music to win a Grammy Award. This Grammy win has been considered a significant milestone for the critical acceptance of music from video games, and following this win the Recording Academy retitled their visual media categories to become more inclusive of video game soundtracks, before eventually creating a dedicated Grammy Award for Best Score Soundtrack for Video Games and Other Interactive Media in 2022.

Read more about this composer on Wikipedia.

Works

Box sets & recent recordings

Sid Meier's Civilization VI (Original Game Soundtrack) — Christopher Tin, Geoff Knorr, Phill Boucher, Roland Rizzo (2016) box set · 204 tracks Spotify
Sid Meier's Civilization VII (Original Game Soundtrack) — Christopher Tin, Geoff Knorr, Roland Rizzo, Sid Meier's Civilization (2025) box set · 45 tracks Spotify
Song Offerings: Choral Works by Christopher Tin — Christopher Tin, Kantorei, Joel Rinsema, Alicia Rigsby, Dylan Tyree, David Short, Nicholas Recuber, Remy Le Boeuf (2025) Spotify
The Lost Birds — Christopher Tin, VOCES8, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Barnaby Smith (2022) Spotify
The Celebration Thread — Christopher Tin (2021) Spotify

Box sets & recent releases via Spotify — surfaced automatically, not editorial picks.