Grayson Rotumah, Dylan Crismani and Mark Ferguson Promoted to Senior Lecturer (Level C)

Congratulations to Grayson Rotumah, Dr Dylan Crismani and Mark Ferguson, who were recently promoted to Senior Lecturer (Level C)!

Dr Dylan Crismani is a composer, researcher, and Lecturer in Music at the Elder Conservatorium of Music where he also serves as Co-Director of the Centre for Aboriginal Studies in Music (CASM). His work spans composition, orchestration, instrument fabrication, and Indigenous music research with a focus on microtonality, just intonation, and collaborative projects with First Nations artists. Dylan has contributed to projects such as the Kaurna Song Book and the ARC-funded Fine Tuning project.

Grayson Rotumah (Bundjalung) is a composer, performer, and academic, and Co-Director of the Centre for Aboriginal Studies in Music (CASM) at the University of Adelaide. As Chief or Co-Investigator, he has secured over $1.18M in competitive research funding (ARC, Indigenous Languages and Arts Program, City of Adelaide), and has presented internationally, including Hong Kong, Singapore, and Barcelona. In 2025, he led the launch of both the Kaurna Song Book and the Indigenous Health Songbook, projects supporting language preservation and culturally safe music therapy for Aboriginal communities.

Pianist/composer/arranger Mark Ferguson has been lecturing at the Elder Conservatorium since 1992 and has been Head of Jazz since 2018. He was awarded the 2022 APRA/AMCOS Luminary Award for his contributions to music education, jazz performance, and composition. In 2022 he released his seventh album, the ABC Jazz commission Where Emus Roam the Streets. He writes regularly for the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra and science-infused theatre company That Science Gang and has written works for the Australian String Quartet. He has acted as Musical Director for countless shows with artists like Tina Arena, Camille O'Sullivan and Johanna Allen and has played piano for artists like Mark Murphy and Rufus Wainwright.