About

I am a musician and computer scientist living in Newcastle, Australia. I have extensive experience across music, teaching, and data science. I studied music at both the Australian Institute of Music and the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, before completing postgraduate studies at Macquarie University and the University of Technology Sydney. I hold a PhD in computational musicology, focused on the application of machine learning models to musicological questions.

As part of that research, I developed a symbolic music search engine that enables nuanced querying across large-scale orchestral scores. Over the past two decades I have written a wide range of music software — and other software — using languages including C, C++, Java, R, Haskell, and Python.

Alongside research and practice, I have extensive experience teaching at university level and in private settings. I have taught across musicology, harmony and analysis, jazz improvisation, music history, and ensemble performance, and have occasionally taught courses in computer science and data science.

Around 2012, I stepped away from the music sector to work more fully in data science. For roughly a decade I worked in health data, delivering analytics and AI projects, architecting enterprise-scale data platforms, and leading large technical teams. My most recent role was as Chief Data Officer at the Cancer Institute NSW. It was a deeply rewarding and challenging period of work.

In recent years, however, I felt an increasing pull back toward music. Returning to music-making, teaching, and writing has been both grounding and energising. I have been spending more time composing and engaging deeply with sound and synthesis. Many of the articles and projects on this site grow directly out of those interests.

Perhaps the most meaningful part of this return has been reconnecting with collaborative music-making. Playing music with others — within supportive, inclusive creative cultures — remains at the core of what music is for me.

In 2024, I began work on a first album with Sally Jamila, an Aotearoa/New Zealand–based artist. We studied music together as teenagers and had long hoped to collaborate creatively again. The project is due for release in 2026, and the opportunity to with my partner in music and in life has been a genuine joy.

Outside of work and music, I swim at the beach most mornings, have two wonderful children, and continue to think — optimistically — that I should do more yoga.