Barry Conyngham was born in Sydney August 1944. After an initial involvement with jazz music, he studied composition with Peter Sculthorpe at Sydney University and with Toru Takemitsu in Japan. He gained his Doctorate of Music from the University of Melbourne in 1980.

He has received numerous awards and grants for compositions including a Churchill Fellowship in 1970, a Harkness Fellowship from 1972 - 74 and a Fulbright Senior Fellowship in 1982. He has lived and worked in the U.S.A., France, the U.K. and Japan, a country which has had a significant influence on Conyngham’s musical philosophy.

He is now a Vice-Chancellor at Southern Cross University.

Conyngham’s output reflects a composer of great energy and diversity. To his orchestral works which include Ice Carving, Mirages, Horizons and Southern Cross, may be added a wide range of chamber works, including Basho and Cello Concerto and a growing repertoire of musical theatre pieces, notably Edward John Eyre, Ned and The Apology of Bony Andersson. Even Conyngham’s tape and computer generated pieces use an attractive musical language that springs from the expressive qualities of the traditional orchestra and the human voice.