Overview
Josh Biggs (b. 22 September 1993) is a composer from Cape Town, South Africa, with recent electroacoustic and chamber work focusing on the relationship between gesture and affect.
Biggs has studied with Lewis Nielson, Aaron Helgeson, Tom Lopez, and Jesse Jones, and holds a BMus in Composition from Oberlin Conservatory, (2017). In August 2019, Biggs will begin their DMA in Composition at Cornell University, under the guidance of Kevin Ernste, Marianthi Papalexandri-Alexandri, and Roberto Sierra.
Biggs has had works performed by the Formalist Quartet (Los Angeles), the Oberlin Sinfonietta (under Tim Weiss) and members of the Oberlin Contemporary Music Ensemble. In 2017, they performed on a large found instrument console with the Oberlin Contemporary New Music Ensemble (OINC), under the direction of Aurie Hsu, including a live broadcast performance on the college radio station, WOBC. Biggs has also received masterclasses from James Dillon, Anthony Cheung, and Bernard Lang. Before Oberlin, Biggs attended both the United World College of the Adriatic, and the Trio di Trieste Chamber Music Conservatory in Duino, Italy, where under the direction of maestros Maureen Jones, Renato Zanettovich, and Dario de Rosa they received a diploma in Chamber Music Performance (2012) specializing in four hands piano repertoire.
Currently, Biggs is teaching piano and electronic music, and is involved in multiple collaborative projects with South African visual, video, and new media artists, poets, and playwrights. In 2018, they had works premiered and installed at the Seoul International Computer Music Festival, the Institute for Creative Arts’ Live Art Festival, the National Arts Festival Makhanda, and the Zeitz Museum of Contemporary African Art.