My name is Michael Shirrefs. My life has been a wonderful mix of radio, music, art and people’s stories, placing me in a luxurious space where I can engage with creative ideas and creative people.
I currently work as a freelance composer and sound designer, working with a host of extraordinary creative folk who continually feed my imagination. But my background has been quite varied. With over three decades experience as a radio program-maker, working for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, I’ve gained extraordinary freedom in the range and scope of the stories that I can communicate. ABC Radio National is one of the few, rare public spaces in the media world where ideas are still privileged over all else. And over the years I’ve been able to spread my focus to stories across Australia and around the globe.
I have a PhD in History and Journalism, but also studied Fine Art as a printmaker. While, in music, with a distant memory of performing in indie bands in my youth, I now have the privilege of composing music for dance and theatre productions, as well as radio documentaries.
Over the past decade, I have worked closely with my wife Dr Lyn Gallacher, also a radio program-maker and a beautiful story-teller through the medium of sound.
It’s not at all a bad world that I inhabit …
