Biography
Joseph Bohigian is a composer whose music is characterized by the obsessive pursuit of singular ideas and a gradual unfolding of sustained tension. A third generation Armenian-American, he often draws on his heritage and explores the pursuit of Armenian identity maintenance in diaspora. His music, described as “delightfully accessible and inventive” (SoundWordSight), has been heard around the world at the Oregon Bach Festival, June in Buffalo, Walt Disney Concert Hall, New Music on the Point Festival, Australian Percussion Gathering, and Aram Khachaturian Museum Hall. Recently, his Stone Dreams was performed by Decibel New Music at the TENOR Conference in Melbourne, Australia and he participated in the Festival Mixtur Composition and Sound Experimentation Workshop in Barcelona. He has also worked with performers including Mivos Quartet, Great Noise Ensemble, Argus Quartet, Fresno Summer Orchestra Academy, and members of Yarn/Wire. Currently, Bohigian is composing a new work incorporating his studies of Armenian music at the Komitas Museum-Institute in Yerevan, Armenia.
Photo by Raffi Paul
In addition to composing, Bohigian performs as a percussionist, pianist, and laptop musician. He has premiered many new works and curated concerts of contemporary music for the Composer’s Voice Concert Series in New York for which he was called a “triple-threat” by Time Out New York for his role as curator, composer, and performer. He also founded the Fresno State New Music Ensemble and is a member of the SynthBeats Laptop Orchestra, with whom he has recently performed at the International Computer Music Conference, New York City Electroacoustic Music Festival, Society of Electro-Acoustic Music Conference, and Network Music Festival.
Having grown up in the large Armenian community of Fresno, California, Joseph’s Armenian heritage is an important influence on his work. In 2012, he traveled to Yerevan, Armenia where he studied composition with Artur Avanesov and premiered his piece Dzirani Dzar at the Aram Khachaturian Museum Hall. In 2015, he wrote In the Shadow of Ararat, a work commemorating the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide. Ararat was premiered alongside other works by living Armenian composers at concerts Bohigian organized in Fresno and Los Angeles and was featured on NPR’s Here and Now and The California Report. Recently, he has written works on the assassination of Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink and the Nagorno-Karabkh conflict. In addition to his research at the Komitas Museum-Institute, Bohigian taught a laptop orchestra workshop at the Komitas State Conservatory in Yerevan.
Bohigian is currently a doctoral candidate at Stony Brook University, where he holds a Graduate Council Fellowship and teaches undergraduate music theory and musicianship. He has studied composition with Nirmali Fenn, Matthew Barnson, Dan Weymouth, Margaret Schedel, Perry Goldstein, Kenneth Froelich, and Benjamin Boone and percussion with Matthew Darling.
Short Biography
Joseph Bohigian’s music is characterized by the obsessive pursuit of singular ideas and a gradual unfolding of sustained tension. A third generation Armenian-American, he often draws on his heritage and explores the pursuit of Armenian identity maintenance in diaspora. Joseph’s works have been heard around the world at the Oregon Bach Festival, June in Buffalo, Walt Disney Concert Hall, TENOR Conference, New Music on the Point Festival, Australian Percussion Gathering, Aram Khachaturian Museum Hall, and more. His music has been performed by the Mivos Quartet, Great Noise Ensemble, Argus Quartet, Decibel New Music, Fresno Summer Orchestra Academy, and members of Yarn/Wire and featured on NPR’s “Here and Now” and “The California Report.” Bohigian is currently a doctoral candidate at Stony Brook University and has studied at California State University Fresno and in Yerevan, Armenia with Artur Avanesov.