Troy John Russell

Troy John Russell is of the Biripi people of the Greater Manning area near Taree, and the Gamillaroi people of the New England area. Troy's journey with music began at 11, when a neighbour offered to teach him the fundamentals of music and after he discovered an old photograph of his father playing a banjo he learned that his family from Taree was a musical family - a great revelation that has been inspiring him for the last 40 years. Troy is currently working at NAISDA where he teaches DanceFilm to the Developing Artists there. He continues to write music in collaboration with his band GiiMusic and also plays guitar with Green Hand Band.

During 2019, Troy was commissioned by The Sydney Living Museums for a piece of music for their “Songs of Home” exhibition, which recently won a Museums and Galleries National Award for 'Songs of Home', beating other major art galleries and museums across the country. In 2020 Troy was commissioned by River City Voices to write a choral piece.