About

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

Lyon is currently studying her Master of Music as a recipient of the Fay Marles Scholarship at the University of Melbourne under the guidance of Dr Katy Abbott Kvasnica and Dr Elliott Gyger. Currently Lyon is working on a chamber opera Pieces of Margery, in conjunction with Melbourne based opera company More Than Opera, to be premiered in late 2019. Lyon started formal music study in 2008, at the age of 28, majoring in Composition from 2009.

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. Lyon completed her BMus Honours in 2014 having studied with Dr Stuart Greenbaum, Dr Elliott Gyger.

Performances and collaborations have included 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 several times on the Making Waves podcast, including an hour length interview for Making Conversations in 2017. In October 2014 Lyon’s first orchestral work, Orchestral Equations, was work-shopped and recorded by the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Ben Northey.