Short bio (detailed bio below)

May Lyon’s expressive music explores humanistic themes from nature and lore to mathematics, with narrative dualities and rhythmic precision being strong recurring elements. In June 2024 Lyon's 90min opera, Pieces of Margery. had a showcase premiere to critical acclaim, and in August, Ensemble Offspring and soprano Jane Sheldon premiered a short semi-theatrical work, Do Na Chaill,  as part of the 2023 Noisy Women Commission.  A finalist for 2023 Work of the Year: Dramatic for the ballet Precious Bedeviller, Lyon has been commissioned and performed by the Australian Ballet, Musica Viva, Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra, Sydney Dance Company, National Capital Orchestra, Forest Collective, and Syzygy Ensemble. 

Lyon has been named one of the composer participants in the 2025 ANAM set. Lyon is currently undertaking a PhD at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music as part of the 2020-21 Composing Women Program, supervised by Liza Lim. Lyon was a finalist for the Beleura Emerging Composer Award as part of 2019 The Melbourne Prize, participant in the 2017 Cybec 21st Century Australian Composers Program, and winner of the 2009 Adolf Spivakovsky Scholarship for Composition. Their work has been featured on ABC Classic, 3MS Radio, and radio shows such as ABC Classics New Waves and Making Waves. 

Importance of Music

"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."​

May Lyon is a composer and music educator based in Melbourne.  Lyon's music explores a range of themes, from deep human emotions, representations of nature, to mathematical concepts, as well as the lighter side of life. Stylistically expressive, Lyon's compositions move from dramatic and intense, to quirky. Narrative, precision, duality and rhythm are all strong recurring elements.

In 2024 a showcase of Lyon's first opera, Pieces of Margery, was performed in concert by Melbourne based opera company More Than Opera under the baton of Patrick Burns, receiving critical acclaim. The cast was be led by Juel Riggall in the title role of Margery, with Christopher Tonkin, Adrian Tamburini, Lisette Bolton, and Matthew O'Leary. In July 2022 Lyon took part in Halcyon's First Stones program as a returning participant, workshopping several vocal excerpts that were developed into the opera. As the recipient of the 2023 Noisy Women Commission, awarded by Ensemble Offspring, Lyon's created a semi-theatrical work Do Na Chaill,  based on Scottish lore, for soprano, sextet and backing track. This work was premiered at the Sydney Opera House in August 2024.

Lyon is a participant in the 2025 ANAM Set and will be writing for oboe, working with Joshua Webster. In Musica Viva’s 2023 season, Lyon’s newly commissioned work for violin and piano, Forces of Nature, was toured nationally by Noa Wildschut and Elisabeth Brauß.This work was commissioned by Christine Bollen and friends.  In 2024 Lyon created a re-interpretation of Jess Hitchcock's By the Sea as part of a MVA project with Hitchcock and The Penny Quartet. APRA AMCOS selected Lyon as a finalist in the 2023 Art Music Awards for the category of Work of the Year: Dramatic, for the 2022 ballet Precious Bedeviller aka One Person watching. The Australian Ballet commissioned Lyon as part of the 2022 Bodytorque series, collaborating with choreographer Timothy Coleman.

In March 2021 the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra performed a newly commissioned work Opal: Double Concerto for Horns and Orchestra, at Hamer Hall, written for Nicolas Fleury and Rachel Shaw, conducted by Ben Northey. Opal was performed again in 2023, with the original soloists, by Zelman Memorial Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Rick Prakhoff. 

In 2019 Lyon was a finalist for the Beluera Emerging Composer Award as part of the prestigious Melbourne Prize for Music. In 2017 Lyon was a participant in the Cybec 21st Century Australian Composers Program, writing Ignition under the mentorship of Brenton Broadstock OA. Following this, Lyon was commissioned by the MSO to compose the main piece for the 2019 Snare Drum Award, Phosphorus. In 2016-17 Lyon received several commissions, including composing for Syzygy Ensemble as part of the Melbourne Recital Centre's "Local Heroes" program, Ensemble Goldentree, and The Glen Johnston Composition Award. Lyon received several scholarships during her undergraduate studies, including the Adolf Spivakovsky Scholarship for Composition of Music for verse re-rhymes, which was premiered by Ensemble 21 in August 2010. 

Past performances and collaborations have included the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Ensemble Goldentree, Zelman Symphony Orchestra, Rubiks Collective, Syzygy Ensemble, E21, Melbourne Women’s Choir, flautist Robin Meiksins (Chicago) multi-arts organisation Forest Collective and vocal group Icon Trio. In January 2018 Lyon was a participant in the Prime Composition workshop with composer Adrian Sutton, resulting in a short work, I love maths. I also like outerspace, that was performed during intervals at Melbourne performances of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time. Lyon’s music was featured on ABC Classic’s New Waves in 2017, several times on 3MBS, including Live at the Wireless, and continues to be included on various Making Waves podcasts, including an hour length interview for Making Conversations in 2017. 

Lyon is currently studying a Doctor of Musical Arts at the University of Sydney as part of the 2020-21 Composing Women Program with Professor Liza Lim.  Collaborations as part of this course have been with the Sydney Dance Company, Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra, Sydney Symphony Orchestra Fellows, and Sydney Philharmonia Choirs. In 2019 Lyon completed a Master of Music (Composition) as a recipient of the Fay Marles Scholarship at the University of Melbourne with Dr Katy Abbott and Dr Elliott Gyger. Lyon completed her BMus Honours in 2014 with Dr Stuart Greenbaum, Dr Elliott Gyger. Lyon started formal music study in 2008, at the age of 28, majoring in Composition from 2009.