Adrian Sherriff

Adrian is an active musician and composer and a lecturer in music at Melbourne Polytechnic. Adrian has regularly toured, taught, and performed internationally since the beginning of his tenure at Melbourne Polytechnic. He brings all of these experiences back to the classroom to inform his teaching.

He travels regularly around the world, performing and studying the music of many different cultures. His musical studies have included; European classical, Afro-American jazz, South Indian classical, Japanese shakuhachi, Balinese gamelan, folkloric Afro-Cuban, Brazilian choro and experimental music traditions. In each of these traditions, he has studied and performed with master musicians of international calibre.

Since 2007, Adrian has taught his students practical skills across many areas including; composition, South Indian percussion, Balinese gamelan, aural and musicianship, music technology, ensemble classes and performance. Adrian is passionate about communicating ideas and broadening his students’ view of the world.

Adrian was awarded a bachelor's degree in music for trombone and flute from the Victorian College of the Arts, followed by Honours from Monash University in South Indian classical percussion. His Master of Music degree from the Victorian College of the Arts involved studying, performing, and exploring connections between shakuhachi, South Indian classical music adapted to bass trombone, gender wayang and bata. Since 1995, Adrian has been a frequent performer at the Melbourne, Sydney, Adelaide and Brisbane Arts Festivals as well as regionally throughout Australia. Internationally, Adrian has toured across the Asian subcontinent, Southeast Asia, Australasia, North America, and Europe. He has been acclaimed for his contributions to the Australian Art Orchestra, The Wide Alley, Andrea Keller’s Bartok Project, and the Bennett’s Lane Big Band amongst other ensembles.