Michael Sollis, a composer, mandolinist and interdisciplinary artist whose work bridged music, science and community storytelling, has died aged 40.

He died on 1 May in a Canberra hospice from bowel cancer, following a diagnosis of advanced disease in 2021. Over the final years of his life, he became a prominent advocate for cancer awareness, using his own experience to highlight the importance of early detection and research.

Michael Sollis (1985-2026). Portrait © Keith Saunders.

Canberra-born, Sollis built a reputation as one of Australia’s most inventive creative voices, working fluidly across composition, performance, education and artistic leadership.

He was the founder and director of the Griffyn Ensemble, an acclaimed collective known for genre-defying performances that integrated music with theatre, visual art and narrative.

Under Sollis’s direction, the ensemble toured nationally, appeared on ABC Classic and collaborated widely, including with First Nations artists. Its 2021 project Songs from a Stolen Senate drew on parliamentary texts and Indigenous perspectives to explore political and cultural identity.

Sollis’s career was marked by an unusual breadth of collaboration. His work connected musicians with astronomers, geneticists, dancers, farmers and sporting communities. He worked with astronomer Fred Watson on projects inspired by celestial bodies, and created One Sky Many Stories, combining Indigenous Australian and Western astronomical traditions. Other works ranged from City of Trees, developed with visual artist Jyll Bradley, to The Dirty Red Digger, which explored links between rugby league and World War I.

Michael Sollis. Portrait © Keith Saunders.

A mandolinist as well as a composer, Sollis saw music as a tool for connection and enquiry. His works were performed by leading Australian ensembles including the Australian String Quartet and The Australian Voices, as well as internationally.

Education was central to his practice. In 2016, he was appointed by Richard Gill as the inaugural artistic director of education at Musica Viva Australia, where he oversaw the country’s largest music education program, reaching more than 280,000 students annually.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, he led efforts to maintain access to music education through digital platforms, supporting both teachers and artists.

Sollis also developed creative programs internationally, including in Scottish prisons, Egyptian schools and regional Australian communities, and was widely regarded as a leading teaching artist and advocate for arts education.

In 2023, he was appointed co-artistic director of the National Folk Festival alongside Holly Downes and Chris Stone, with a brief to revitalise the event and connect contemporary and traditional folk practices.

Sollis studied at the Australian National University School of Music, where he was mentored by Larry Sitsky and Jim Cotter, and later joined the faculty. His research into the relationship between music and language was published by ANU E Press and the Australian Journal of Linguistics.

Following his cancer diagnosis, Sollis continued to create new work, including Reticulum, a sound sculpture installed at the University of Canberra Hospital incorporating interviews with immunodeficient families.

Sollis was an artist driven by curiosity and collaboration, committed to expanding the role of music in public life. His work, spanning remote Australian communities to international stages in Papua New Guinea and Norway, consistently sought to connect people across disciplines and cultures.