About

Paul Prestipino ["Preh-sti-PEE-no"] is an Australian composer, sound designer and songwriter working across music, theatre, film and installation.

Raised on Noongar country in Perth and of Sicilian descent, he began drumming in rock bands at eleven, later teaching himself several other instruments before studying sound design and electroacoustic composition in The Hague. A journey through Egypt in 2000 sparked a lasting fascination with field recording and place. Environmental, mechanical and human atmospheres — immediate and remembered — continue to shape his work.

His theatre, film, installation and radio work often combines composition with devising, particularly in new works engaging with political and sensitive subjects. His collaborators have included version 1.0, Belvoir, Ilbijerri, Black Swan, ABC Radio National, Jim Sharman, Roman Paska and Societas Raffaello Sanzio.

As a songwriter, he has released two albums, playing all instruments himself. Tunnel (2008, reissued 2026) builds long-form songs with personal field recordings gathered across three continents. Animals and Spirits (2026) turns inward, with guitar, mandolin and voice recorded at a kitchen table in a cottage in the bush. Provoked by rising authoritarianism, the album follows a lone figure through a world in which civilisation and self have begun to fray, until only crickets and frogs remain.

After many years roaming and recording between the US, Europe and Western Australia, he is now based on Gadigal land in Sydney.