Australian composer Ross Edwards has been chiefly preoccupied by highly personal responses to the natural environment which have given his music a strong sense of location. His musical language is profoundly influenced by the sounds and rhythmic patterns of the natural environment, especially those of insects and birds - their feeling of timelessness, quirkish rhythms and asymmetrical phrases and, above all, their implicit recognition of the fundamental mysteriousness of existence.

Edwards' early teachers included Peter Sculthorpe, Sandor Veress and Sir Peter Maxwell Davies. Intensely aware of his vocation as a composer, he has largely followed his own path, rejecting most of the standard prerequisites for career development and depending on the music's ability to speak for itself.