Max Lambert is a name shared by at least two notable individuals: an Australian composer and musical director, and an American conservation scientist.
1. Max Lambert (Australian composer and musical director)
Max Lambert, AM (born 1955 in Sydney) is an Australian composer and musical director. He studied at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music.
Career: Lambert has worked for Sydney Theatre Company, Melbourne Theatre Company, Queensland Theatre, Griffin Theatre Company, Bell Shakespeare, Sydney Dance Company, and The Australian Ballet. He was the Musical Director for the original production of The Boy from Oz, for which he received a Helpmann Award for Best Musical Direction in 2001. He served as Musical Supervisor on Hairspray, Fame, King Kong Live, and Strictly Ballroom – the Musical.
He composed the stage musicals Berlin (1995, with Iva Davies for Sydney Dance Company), Miracle City (2014), and Darlinghurst Nights (2018), and contributed to Hot Shoe Shuffle, Ladies Day, Letters to Lindy, The Literati, and Diving for Pearls.
In film, he worked on Happy Feet and The Last Days of Chez Nous.
Lambert was the Musical Director for the Opening and Closing Ceremonies of the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games, the 2002 Commonwealth Games in Manchester, and the 2006 Asian Games. He was also Music Supervisor for Expo Dubai UAE 2020.
He has recorded with notable Australian artists including Kate Ceberano, Wendy Matthews, Grace Knight, Vince Jones, Renée Geyer, Paul Kelly, Iva Davies, and Icehouse.
Honours: Lambert was made a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) in the 2024 Australia Day Honours for "significant service to music and to the performing arts."
2. Max Lambert, PhD (American conservation scientist)
Max Lambert, PhD, is an American conservation biologist and ecologist. He serves as the Director of Science for The Nature Conservancy in Washington state.
Education: He earned a B.S. in Wildlife, Fish, and Conservation Biology from the University of California, Davis, and a Master of Environmental Science (M.E.Sc.) and PhD from Yale University's School of Forestry and Environmental Studies (now School of the Environment).
Career: Prior to joining The Nature Conservancy, Lambert was a senior research scientist and Aquatic Research Section Manager at the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, where he managed a team studying biodiversity and ecosystem conservation. He was also a postdoctoral research scientist at the University of California. His research focuses on urban ecology, evolutionary biology, and conservation biology, with particular emphasis on amphibians and reptiles, stormwater management, renewable energy deployment, and equitable conservation outcomes. He was a 2019 Smith Fellow and has published over 70 scientific articles, cited more than 2,300 times.
Note: These are two distinct individuals who share the same name. The Australian composer is documented on Wikipedia, while the American scientist is documented through The Nature Conservancy, academic, and professional sources.
