Adrian Sherriff is a performer, composer, teacher and multi-instrumentalist. In his childhood amongst the Lani people in West Papua, Adrian regularly transitioned from the stone age to the information age. This flexibility of perspective has deeply shaped his life and music.

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Adrian’s musical foundations are drawn from his studies of European classical, Afro-American jazz, South Indian classical, Japanese shakuhachi, Afro-Cuban bata, Balinese gamelan and experimental music traditions. In each of these traditions, Adrian has studied and performed with master musicians of international calibre.

Amongst his many teachers, the late South Indian master drummer Guru Karaikudi Mani has been a particularly potent source of inspiration.

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As a touring artist, Adrian has been a frequent performer at the Melbourne, Sydney, Adelaide and Brisbane Arts Festivals as well as regionally throughout Australia. Internationally, Adrian has performed across the Asian subcontinent, South East Asia, Australasia, North America and Europe.

Adrian's current performance projects include: the Adrian Sherriff Trio performing transcultural original works, a duo with pianist Brett Williams exploring classics of the jazz canon and an improvising electroacoustic multimedia duo with clarinetist/artist Brigid Burke.

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In his career, Adrian has been an integral member of the Australian Art Orchestra, The Wide Alley, Andrea Keller’s Bartok Project and the Bennett’s Lane Big Band amongst other ensembles. He is currently employed as a Lecturer in Music at Melbourne Polytechnic in performance, intercultural music and musicianship.

Adrian was awarded a Bachelor degree in trombone and flute from the Victorian College of the Arts and Honours from Monash University in South Indian classical percussion. His Masters degree from the Victorian College of the Arts including the study, performance and exploration of connections between shakuhachi, South Indian classical music (adapted to bass trombone), gender wayang and bata.

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Adrian is currently enrolled in doctoral studies at Griffith University researching transcultural expressions of musical time.

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In more recent years, Adrian has developed an interest in electro-acoustic music as a vehicle to connect his diverse musical interests. A focus of this has been the exploration of the Zendrum and Theremin as open ended electronic performance instruments.