Emeritus Professor Michael Atherton (né Jones) AM (born 17 February 1950) is an Australian musician, composer, academic and author.
Atherton pioneered creative music therapy in adolescence, working at Rivendell (1978–80) with Professor Dame Marie Bashir.
[2] He is proficient in over thirty instruments[3] and has toured extensively throughout Asia, Europe, USA and Canada with Sirocco, the Atherton TableBand, and Southern Crossings, supported by Music Viva Australia.
He has made numerous CD recordings, documentary film scores and television themes, including the station music for TVS.
Performance highlights include the Aurora Festival 2008; New Interfaces for Musical Expression (NIME) opening concert, New York, June 2007; and NIME/Agora Resonances, Paris, 2006.
He achieved a high commendation for research training and supervision in the Vice Chancellor's Awards for Excellence at Western Sydney University (2008).
[5] world premières including: Songs of stone and silence (2008) for soprano, mezzo-soprano and ensemble; Oku ou talanoa mo hoku loto (2008) for voice and percussion; and Runsten (2008), a suite for lute.