Manson Luk

Manson Luk is a Sydney based drummer and alumni of the University of Sydney Conservatorium of Music with a bachelor’s degree in jazz performance (Drums) with Honours Acceptance. He is an innovative and passionate musician recognised for pushing creative boundaries in both sound and presentation, and is active across jazz, contemporary/improvised and hip-hip music. At the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, he studied under the tutelage of mentors Dr Simon Barker, Dr Alexander Inman Hislop, Dr Kevin Hunt, and other leading voices in jazz, drumming and improvised music/music pedagogy.

Manson Luk is an established and passionate music educator with almost a decade of drumset/percussion teaching experience, in all age and skill levels. This includes primary school students, students studying music 1/2/extension in their HSC year, students studying a music performance bachelor at tertiary educations, and professional working musicians, both in individual and ensemble settings.

He produces unique and personalised pedagogy methods that cater specifically to each student to achieve their own personal goals, to develop an exciting passion, joy and ambition in rhythm amongst the drum set, and to create their own identity in music. Former students have had a positive track record in HSC encore nominations, acceptance in the University of Sydney Conservatorium of Music, the University of New South Wales music degree, and have moved on to becoming professional musicians in the field. Currently, he is an onsite drum teacher and ensemble leader at Mount Saint Benedicts College, Rosebank College and offers tuition from his home studio in Eastwood/Marsfield

Throughout his career, Manson has worked with several prominent jazz artists and performed at renowned venues and festivals including the Sydney Opera House, Sydney Conservatorium International Jazz Festival, and SXSW Sydney Festival. Performances also include nationally and internationally recognised venues such as the Sydney Opera House, ABC Studios, Jazz Lab (Melbourne), Jazz Music Institute (Brisbane), Amber Jazz (Tokyo) and Fountain De Chopin (Hong Kong) and Salon 10 (Hong Kong). As the bandleader of the Asian-Australian jazz group Zodiac, Manson was awarded the ABC Jazz Composer Commission in 2023 to create the group’s debut album ‘The Wild Wild East’. In 2025 he released the group’s second album ‘From’ alongside a short-documentary of the band’s journey made by leading Asian Australian creators Andrew and Chris Yee. In 2025, he lead Zodiac on an international tour to Malaysia, Hong Kong and Japan (supported by Sound NSW), an Australia-wide tour (Supported by Sound NSW), followed by an individual Hong Kong tour with leading musicians including Alan Kwan, Jonas Cho and Nelson Fung.