Padma Newsome is an Australian composer and performer currently based in New York and Connecticut, USA. He was born in Alice Springs in 1961. He has a broad musical palette, composing for traditional small and large ensemble, electro-acoustic media, and improvised chamber ensemble. His works have been performed by ensembles such as the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra, the Academy of Melbourne, the Locrian Chamber Players, (New York) and the Da Capo Chamber Players, (New York) and by eminent performers such as Evan Ziproyn, (Bang on a Can), Katie Lansdale, and virtuoso violist Georgina Grosvenor.

Mr. Newsome is the current musical director and composer for the improvisatory chamber ensemble Clogs, which performs regularly at New York's experimental new music venues and has toured extensively throughout the United States and Canada. In 2001 Clogs released their debut album, Thom's Night Out (Brassland) and Padma and ‘Clogs’ were commissioned by choreographers Alan Good and Susan Matheke. This year Padma is continuing his dance work with Alan Good and choreographer Jessica Reese-Dessner.

A prodigious proponent of new music, Padma has also performed with the Seymour Group, Fresh Air, the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, and the Australian Chamber Orchestra, working under numerous conductors such as Sir Christopher Hogwood, Zdenek Macal, Sir Charles Makkerras, and Stuart Challender. As a rock/pop musician he has performed with The National, Project Nim, and Eggplant. His music has been performed in venues ranging from Weill Hall, Carnegie Hall, and Adelaide Town Hall, to experimental new music venues such as The Knitting Factory, CBGB’s gallery in New York, and Casa Del Popolo in Montreal.

Mr. Newsome was educated at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, Adelaide University, and Yale University. His teachers have included Dr Martin Bresnick, Dr Joseph Schwanter, Pundit Ashok Roy, Alexandru Todicescu, Graeme Koehne, Eleanor Havda, Robert Constable, and Dr Evan Ziporyn.

In January 2001 Padma was awarded an Artists Fellowship from the Connecticut Commission on the Arts to compose a concerto for amplified bassoon, percussion and chamber orchestra. Other commissions and grants include the Australia Council for the Arts, the Vermont Council for the Arts, Fulbright Post-graduate Award, Symphony Australia, Arts SA, the Helpmann Academy, and numerous private commissions. He currently teaches composition at the Educational Center of the Arts, Connecticut, and is the Media Instruction Specialist at Yale's Music and Technology Laboratory.