author
Richard Connolly
Best known for composing the beloved Play School theme song, this Australian musician also shaped modern Catholic hymnody and spent decades working in broadcasting. His career moved easily between children’s television, radio, and sacred music.
0 Audiobooks
About the author
Born in Sydney on November 10, 1927, Richard Connolly was an Australian composer, musician, and broadcaster whose work reached a wide audience in very different ways. He studied theology in Rome and later attended the University of Sydney, bringing together a strong interest in faith, language, and music that would define much of his career.
Connolly had a long association with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, beginning in religious broadcasting in 1956 and later serving in senior radio roles. Many listeners know him best as the composer of the Play School theme song, written with lyrics by Rosemary Milne, but his work also extended to documentaries, film, and other ABC programs.
He was also one of Australia’s most influential composers of Catholic liturgical music, especially through his collaboration with poet James McAuley. Their hymns and psalm settings became widely used, and his music remained an important part of church life for decades. Connolly died in Sydney on May 4, 2022, at the age of 94.