Paul Turner : Represented Artist
Photo: Lucien Turner
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Paul Turner was born in Morwell, Victoria in 1948. He grew up in the Gippsland region, acquiring a modest ability as a pianist and an interest in composition.
On being conscripted to the Australian Army near the end of the Vietnam war years, he played clarinet in a military band. After this time he became a piano teacher, a participant at the Cliton Hill Community Music Centre, and again, a student. He eventually completed a Master of Music degree in Composition at Melbourne University in 1979.
He has taught music in various guises; he has worked as a musician and composer in theatrical and dance productions; he was a composer-in-the-community in Hamilton, Victoria in 1981; and he wrote many reviews of musical performances in the late 1980s while living in Adelaide.
A particuarly pleasing compositional experience to date was his part in composing and performing a large collection of very short pieces for saxophone and piano with colleague Neil Turner while working at the Centre for Aboriginal Studies in Music at the University of Adelaide in the early 1990s.
After 1994, Paul Turner retreated from compositional activity. He taught music at Port Augusta Secondary School for four years and transitioned to teaching mathematics, first in Port Augusta and then in Canberra, until his retirement from teaching. After a pause, he is once again active as a composer.
Paul Turner — current to February 2026