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Born in Sydney on October 31, 1931, David Lumsdaine was educated at Sydney University and the Sydney Conservatorium. In 1953 he travelled to England to study with Matyas Seiber, and afterwards remained in the UK, working freelance as composer, conductor, teacher and music editor.

Early performances which attracted attention included orchestral works and the several cantatas in which he collaborated with Peter Porter. Lumsdaine's reputation was established with such works as Kelly Ground, (1966) Flights (1967), Mandalas 1 (1967) and 2 (1969). The vivid imagery and rich harmonic vocabulary of these pieces were to become hallmarks of his style; the lucidity of the music belies its technical virtuosity, much commented on at the time.

During the sixties he was immersed in British contemporary musical life; he set up The Manson Room for composers at the Royal Academy of Music, and was increasingly sought after as a composition teacher. This led to university appointments, first at Durham (where he founded and directed the Electronic Music Studio) and subsequently at King's College, London, where he shared a post with his wife, the composer Nicola LeFanu.

In 1973 Lumsdaine returned to Australia, and since then his life has been divided between the two countries, with an increasing number of performances in both. In both Australia and UK he was much in demand, too, as a director of composers' workshops; with Don Banks, he pioneered the SPNM Composers' Weekends in the UK, and the Young Composers' Schools in Australia.

During the forty years of his career as a composer, Lumsdaine composed a body of strikingly original music, including such major works as Aria for Edward John Eyre, Hagoromo, Mandala 5, Garden of Earthly Delights and Kali Dances. As well as substantial orchestral commissions, Lumsdaine has written many solo and chamber works commissioned for, and by, individual performers.

At its heart, Lumsdaine's music embodies his experience of the Australian landscape – the variety of its shapes, rhythms, colours and textures: the vitality of its creatures; its sudden violence; its sense of unlimited space and time. An introduction to Lumsdaine's music can be found in the standard music dictionaries and a more detailed study has been written by Michael Hall (The Music of David Lumsdaine, Arc music, 2003).

In 1993 he retired from academic life, and withdrew, increasingly, from the musical world. He ceased composing in 1997. He now lives in York (where his wife is Professor of Music at York University) while still spending extended periods in Australia.

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Biography provided by the composer — current to February 2006