Stuart Greenbaum was born in Melbourne in 1966. At school he studied oboe, piano and electric guitar and started writing songs. At the University of Melbourne, he studied composition with Brenton Broadstock and Barry Conyngham and also took an interest in composers influenced by Minimalism. This is evident to some extent in his works which reveal a strong inclination towards modally-based chromaticism. In the context of pulsing motor rhythms (the influence of pop and jazz) this tends to create music somewhere between the worlds of Minimalism, Pop and the Romantic symphonic tradition.

Greenbaum in now working as a professional composer and his output is quite varied, having written over 60 works for the concert and theatre stage. His symphonic music has been performed by orchestras around Australia, the UK (Oxford Philharmonia) and Russia (Krasnoyarsk Academic Symphony and the Pacific Ocean Symphony Orchestra in Vladivostock). He has also collaborated extensively with Melbourne poet, Ross Baglin on choral works including Upon the Dark Water (premiered by The Song Company at the Sydney Opera House), Coventry Cathedral (Arcadian Singers in the U.K.) and most recently their operatic cycle Nelson which was premiered in London by Spitalfields Market Opera. Greenbaum and Baglin began their collaboration in a short-lived pop group, but their 'song-writing' can still be found in chamber works such as One Day for female voice, vibraphone and percussion.

At present, he is completing a PhD in composition at the University of Melbourne where he is also Lecturer in Composition. He has recently completed commissions from Symphony Australia (for a new orchestral piece for the Melbourne Symphony), the Australian National Choral Association and I Cantori di New York (U.S.A.) for a 24 minute piece, The Foundling,, for 40-voice choir, string quartet and vibraphone (written in collaboration with Baglin and premiered in New York City). In 1998 he won the Heinz Harrant Prize for Best New Australian Composition at the Sydney Classical Saxophone Convention.