Michael Sollis, an Australian musician, died on May 1, 2026, aged 40, from bowel cancer.
He was also an interdisciplinary artist, artistic director, researcher and teaching artist. Sollis founded and directed The Griffyn Ensemble in the early 2000s, serving as its artistic director and composer.
The ensemble was noted for genre-defying performances and collaborations across artistic disciplines, and it was featured on ABC Classic, toured with Musica Viva In Schools and was shortlisted for an Australian Classical Music Award. Sollis’s work integrated music with themes of science, community engagement and cross-cultural storytelling, and he published research on the relationship between language and music.
Michael Sollis, 40, Australian musician, bowel cancer.