Music from the Sofa

Biography

Nigel Goss was taught piano by Bryan Kelly and has an MA in Music from the University of York, studying with John Paynter.

His compositions embrace songs, post-modern classical, jazz, rock and electroacoustic music. He makes extensive use of computers in his writing for electronic and acoustic instruments. He is interested in making music that uses ‘real’ sound samples, that involves live musicians and is both challenging, engaging and accessible

He composes music for unusual ensembles, for example a clarinet quartet, drum kit and dhol (Indian drum) that requires the players to play two instruments at once.
Until 1998 he ran the Manchester community band Dream Pavilion, composing extensively for it and recording two CDs.

In May 2000 his ‘Music for Ice Cream Chimes’ (sponsored by Wall Ice Cream) for eight musicians and eight ice cream vans, was the opening event at the Birmingham ‘Splash!’ festival, a joint BBC Music Live and Birmingham City Council event.

In April 2001 he moved to East Sussex. Since moving he has given a piano performance at Hastings Art Gallery with two local musicians, worked with a Hastings based arts group, to produce a radio programme (broadcast on Arrow FM) and made sound tracks for two videos (which he also edited) shown at the 2001 Summer Hastings film festival. East Sussex Music Academy premiered his ‘Music with a Southern Accent’, a suite for amplified double string quartet with bass. Also fifteen of the academy musicians performed his ‘Quartet for Lots of People’ arranged for a wind ensemble and rhythm section.

For Battle Festival 2003 he composed a piece for 14 musicians and digital samples. He arranged for the music to be broadcast on local FM so that the musicians could play their part from anywhere within the town and be part of a simultaneous performance, the local Budgens supermarket and an art gallery. This was supported by the PRS Foundation and included live performance art. The piece was inspired by Battle’s complex history.
His amplified string group divers/t/rings gave a concert in Richmond Park on October 4th 2004 premiering his new works for strings and digital backing tracks.

In June 2007 he co-ordinated and composed music for the New Music Brighton concert and electroacoustic installation at Brighton Museum 'Spectres and Genies'.

Also in June 2007 his music featured in the Brighton Soundwaves festival and he was commissioned to provide music for the celebration opening of New Road pedestrian street in front of Theatre Royal Brighton in an outdoor night time performance.

Since 2007 he has concentrated on developing his song writing.

He undertakes compositions and site-specific multimedia projects to commission.




	Biography Nigel Goss was taught piano by Bryan Kelly and has an MA in Music from the University of York, studying with John Paynter. His compositions embrace songs, post-modern classical, jazz, rock and electroacoustic music. He makes extensive use of computers in his writing for electronic and acoustic instruments. He is interested in making music that uses ‘real’ sound samples, that involves live musicians and is both challenging, engaging and accessible He composes music for unusual ensembles, for example a clarinet quartet, drum kit and dhol (Indian drum) that requires the players to play two instruments at once. Until 1998 he ran the Manchester community band Dream Pavilion, composing extensively for it and recording two CDs. In May 2000 his ‘Music for Ice Cream Chimes’ (sponsored by Wall Ice Cream) for eight musicians and eight ice cream vans, was the opening event at the Birmingham ‘Splash!’ festival, a joint BBC Music Live and Birmingham City Council event. In April 2001 he moved to East Sussex. Since moving he has given a piano performance at Hastings Art Gallery with two local musicians, worked with a Hastings based arts group, to produce a radio programme (broadcast on Arrow FM) and made sound tracks for two videos (which he also edited) shown at the 2001 Summer Hastings film festival. East Sussex Music Academy premiered his ‘Music with a Southern Accent’, a suite for amplified double string quartet with bass. Also fifteen of the academy musicians performed his ‘Quartet for Lots of People’ arranged for a wind ensemble and rhythm section. For Battle Festival 2003 he composed a piece for 14 musicians and digital samples. He arranged for the music to be broadcast on local FM so that the musicians could play their part from anywhere within the town and be part of a simultaneous performance, the local Budgens supermarket and an art gallery. This was supported by the PRS Foundation and included live performance art. The piece was inspired by Battle’s complex history. His amplified string group divers/t/rings gave a concert in Richmond Park on October 4th 2004 premiering his new works for strings and digital backing tracks. In June 2007 he co-ordinated and composed music for the New Music Brighton concert and electroacoustic installation at Brighton Museum 'Spectres and Genies'. Also in June 2007 his music featured in the Brighton Soundwaves festival and he was commissioned to provide music for the celebration opening of New Road pedestrian street in front of Theatre Royal Brighton in an outdoor night time performance. Since 2007 he has concentrated on developing his song writing. He undertakes compositions and site-specific multimedia projects to commission.