JONATHAN BRIGG

Jonathan Brigg is an award-winning composer whose work defies easy categorisation.

Jonathan was born in Bradford, England, in 1984. He studied music at the University of Manchester and then at the University of York, where he undertook doctoral studies in composition as a Sir Jack Lyons Research Scholar. His teachers include Camden Reeves, Kevin Malone, John Casken, William Brooks and Deniz Ertan. He was a Fellow at MacDowell and an inaugural composer on Britten Sinfonia’s Magnum Opus scheme. He is a finalist in the V International Uuno Klami Composer Competition.

Jonathan’s music is heavily influenced by jazz, postminimalism and American ultramodernism. He composed extensively for jazz-classical combo Threads Orchestra and has performed in the London Jazz Festival with his own group, Stoop Quintet. Recent commissions include The Sapling, a children’s opera composed for the Youth Opera Company at the Royal Opera House, the jazz-infused Concerto for Piano and 10 Instruments for pianist Huw Watkins and Britten Sinfonia, and Monkish, written for Britten Sinfonia’s strings. He has enjoyed longstanding collaborations with ensembles in the Netherlands, having written for Orkest de Ereprijs, the Nieuw Ensemble and the Animato Kwartet. As composer in residence with Ely Arts Festival, he regularly writes for the festival orchestra, and this year will perform a solo piano concert of original works. He has been the recipient of numerous career development opportunities, notably London Philharmonic Orchestra’s Young Composers programme, and was a prizewinner at the Young Composers Meeting (YCM) with his piece for large ensemble and vocal quintet, The Brain Within its Groove.

Jonathan is in demand as an arranger, conductor and pianist. He worked for several years as a repetiteur on outreach projects with English National Opera, and was children’s assistant chorus master for ENO’s 2022 production of The Cunning Little Vixen. A versatile workshop pianist and musical assistant, he has worked with a number of composers including Mark-Anthony Turnage and Hugh Harris, lead guitarist with English pop-rock band The Kooks.

Forthcoming performances include the orchestral overture The Eel (Ely Arts Festival) and Monkish (Britten Sinfonia, EFG London Jazz Festival).