As gleaned from the websites given below, Ross Edwards was born in 1943 and lives and works in Sydney. He is regarded as one of Australia's most distinguished composers.
For more than two decades his commitment to the ideal of music as a positive and regenerative force within society has led him to explore beyond the confines of Western Art Music. His distinctive sound-world interfuses shapes and patterns from nature with a variety of musical resources which reflect and celebrate Australia's cultural diversity.
In his maninya (dance-chant) pieces, Edwards has pursued an ideal of wholeness - a reintegration of mind, body and spirit and a restoration to 'serious' music of such qualities as lightness, spontaneity and the impulse to dance. Another side of his creativity is expressed in his 'sacred' or 'contemplative' pieces, which are characterised by by a timeless austerity much influenced by bird song and the mysterious polyphony of the insect chorus of the Australian bush.
Edwards is perhaps best known for his orchestral music but has also written extensively for chamber ensembles, for dance and for film.
Ross Edwards has twice been awarded an Australia Council Creative Fellowship and in 1997 he was made a member of the Order of Australia for services to music as a composer.