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May Lyon : Represented Artist

I cannot imagine life without music, in all its various, beautiful forms. I see music as one of the markers for a healthy society, as well as being fascinated with its diversity. I wish to add to that. For me, to create music is part of being human.

Random Audio Sample: Bugs : for violoncello duet by May Lyon, from the CD Selected Works by AMC Represented Artists, vol. 117.

Photo of May Lyon

Photo: Josh Smyth

Artist website: http://maylyon.com

Artist website: https://www.instagram.com/the.lyoness.balladeer/

May Lyon is a composer and music educator based in Melbourne. Lyon's expressive music explores humanistic themes from nature and lore to mathematics, with narrative dualities and rhythmic precision being strong recurring elements. In 2026 Lyon completed a Doctor of Philosophy at Sydney Conservatorium of Music, focusing on representations of nature in music using algorithmic techniques, supervised by Liza Lim and Helen Mitchell. This doctorate was part of the 2020-21 Composing Women Program where Lyon worked with the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra, Sydney Dance Company, and Sydney Symphony Orchestra Fellows.

Lyon collaborated with dancer / choreographer Tim Coleman in 2026 and 2022 as part of The Australian Ballet Bodytorque series, with their first work being a finalist for the Art Music Awards 2023 Work of the Year: Dramatic. In 2025 Lyon was a participant in the ANAM Set, writing for oboist Joshua Webster. Other recent commissions include Opal: Double Concerto for Horns and Orchestra (2021) premiered by the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra; Forces of Nature (2023), a violin and piano duet toured nationally by Musica Viva; Pieces of Margery (2024), a 100-minute chamber opera about a couple dealing with dementia; and Do Na Chaill (2024), a semi-theatrical work on Scottish lore premiered by Ensemble Offspring as part of the 2023 Noisy Women Commission.

Lyon was a finalist for the Beleura Emerging Composer Award as part of 2019 The Melbourne Prize, and participant in the 2017 Cybec 21st Century Australian Composers Program. Lyon is represented by Stephan McAllan at Emblem Artists.

May Lyon — current to November 2026

Studied with

Katy Abbott

Stuart Greenbaum

Elliott Gyger

Matthew Hindson

Liza Lim

 

Collaborated with

Forest Collective

Syzygy Ensemble

 

Awards & Prizes

Year Award Placing Awarded for
2023 Art Music Awards: Work of the Year: Dramatic Finalist Precious Bedeviller (One Person Watching)
2019 Melbourne Prize for Music Finalist - Beleura Emerging Composers Award 2019
2009 Adolph Spivakovsky Scholarship for the Composition of Music Winner Verse re-rhymes

Selected Commissions

  Work Commission Details
Fantasia for Oboe and Piano : oboe with piano (2025) Commissioned by Members of the Australian National Academy of Music for performance by The ANAM Set.
Do Na Chaill : soprano with ensemble (2024) Commissioned by Ensemble Offspring for the Noisy Women Commission 2023
Pieces of Margery : an opera in one act (2024) More than Opera; Creative Victoria - Sustaining Creative Works fund (2020)
Forces of Nature : for violin and piano (2023) Commissioned by Christine Bollen, Peter Cumines, Elizabeth Dooley, Annabel Wheeler and Elizabeth and Rod King. In memory of Ian Bollen and in memory of Iris Mara.
Opal : Double Concerto for Horns and Orchestra (2021) Commissioned by Melbourne Symphony Orchestra.
Digital sheet music sample The Path : full orchestra (2021) Composing Women Program - Sydney Conservatorium of Music Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra