A Lithium Fascination

Christopher Sainsbury is an Associate Professor in Composition at the School of Music at the Australian National University, and an Australian Performing Rights Association Luminary. As a scholar, his primary research focus is on regional music and identity. He has received commissions from the Australian Chamber Orchestra, the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, Victorian Opera Company Melbourne, the Canberra International Music Festival, the Sydney Festival and many regional community music groups including Symphony Central Coast (his long-term home group). Christopher is of mixed heritage, as a member of the Dharug (Eora) Aboriginal people of Sydney and the surrounding mountain and coastal regions. He runs the Ngarra-burria First Peoples Composers program in Australia, which mentors and connects Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander composers with industry. The group has released two albums with the Australian Broadcast Corporation, and the program received an international Classical:NEXT Innovation Award in 2022. Christopher also loves playing guitar and writing for his surf music group Random Earth Band.