Josh Winiberg

Josh Winiberg BA (Hons) DipABRSM (piano) is a UK based pianist, composer and producer who specialises in soundtracks. A relatively late starter on the piano, Josh began teaching himself to play in 2002, aged 14. What he lacked in experience and formal education, he made up for with an insatiable hunger for music. A year later, this drive intensified following the terminal diagnosis of his step father, who gave Josh his keyboard. After chancing upon Ludovico Einaudi on Classic FM, Josh was inspired to compose an album to give to his step-father before he passed away. Following an intense few months of non-stop work on this project, by 2004 Josh had composed and released his first solo piano album, ‘Sunrise’. Although very rough around the edges, it received positive feedback from Ludovico Einaudi who complimented the playing and described the album as full of character. As a result Josh was invited to perform his work at the prestigious Ravello Festival, Italy, where he debuted his second piano album, ‘Silent Embrace’. A year later, Josh received his first commission, composing the soundtrack for the cartoon platform game ‘Mr Smoozles Goes Nutso’ (by Steve Ince of ‘Broken Sword’ and ‘Beneath a Steel Sky’ fame). As of 2020, Josh and Steve are once again collaborating on the upcoming point-and-click game, ‘Crow Girl’. Upon finishing school, Josh began studying a BA in Music Composition at Dartington College of Arts. In 2008, he took part in an ERASMUS exchange program to Berlin, a city he returned to on a long term basis following the completion of his degree. While continuing to compose soundtracks for films, theatre productions and contemporary dance performances, Josh became increasingly inspired by the nightlife in his new home. Within a few months of sampling the Berlin scene, (and true to every cliché about the city), Josh was producing and performing electronic music, blending his classical flair with the hypnotic German flavour of after-hour techno. Since then, Josh’s productions have been supported by some of the world’s top DJs and electronic music magazines including John Digweed, Pig & Dan, Josh Butler, Faze Magazine and DMC Word Magazine. Returning back to the UK in 2013, Josh was approached by American Film Institute alumnus and long term collaborator Quan Zhou to provide the soundtrack for his next film, Woman in Fragments. This powerful drama went on to be screened at film festivals internationally, including Cannes. The soundtrack to Woman in Fragments, as well as the narrative themes running throughout the film, formed the basis of a new instrumental album, Change, which was released in 2017. This album was featured by the HDSounDI YouTube channel and has since received over a million streams. In 2018, Josh turned his attention to the traditional piano repertoire, taking part in classical festivals and competitions, winning the 2018 Southend Music Festival piano section with three gold medal performances of Beethoven, Chopin and Schubert. A year later, he gained the DipABRSM performance diploma in piano. The last two years have seen Josh return more extensively to soundtrack writing, scoring three short horror films (‘Off the Hook’, ‘The Woods Near Jacob’s Farm’ and ‘See What She Did’), as well as the drama ‘Paradise’. Other notable credits include a commission for the National Lottery’s 20th Anniversary (2014), and a spot on BBC’s ‘The One Show’ directing the Fishwives Choir (2013) alongside Jon Cohen and Phil da Costa (Military Wives Choir). Music from his 2009 album, ‘Those Nights’, was used in the BBC radio documentary, ‘A Fishwives Tale’. In 2009, hang drum pioneer Manu Delago premiered one of Josh’s compositions for hang and string quartet. As of 2020, Josh is working on a series of new releases, re-works and remixes, with a busy release scheduled line up for 2021.