The composer writes: "I was born in 1962. I grew up in the Long Forest near Bacchus Marsh (Victoria). I played the piano and recorder as a child, and went on with both at University (recorder with Ruth Wilkinson) as well as taking up composition. I developed a strong interest in electronic music as an alternative to what I then felt to be the unsatisfactory idioms offered by conventional media. After finishing my studies I abandoned music completely for a time, becoming very interested in tai chi, pottery and gardening. The need to be doing something musical eventually reasserted itself, and I began working on Phoenix Songs. Among my other pieces are a string quartet, Five Bagatelles for piano, several pieces for choir and ensemble, electronic pieces and A Whitsun Cantata, a semi-dramatic piece for a troupe of twelve amateur singer/players, narrator and tape. I am currently finishing a concerto for recorder and chamber orchestra for Genevieve."