Brett Abigaña's music has been performed throughout the world, and his music has been commissioned and performed by numerous performers including The United States Navy Band, The United States Navy Pacific Fleet Band, The United States Air Force Band of the Golden West, The United States Army Field Band and Soldiers' Chorus, ALEA III, The Afiara String Quartet, The Webster Trio, The Fourth Wall Ensemble, The Cape Cod Symphony Orchestra, and numerous high school and college ensembles.
He has written a wide variety of music including chamber music for strings and winds, song cycles, and numerous pieces for orchestra and symphonic band, including several concertos. He has gained a reputation for writing expressive, colorful music, and is much in demand as a guest lecturer, clinician, and conductor.
Dr. Abigaña completed his Bachelor and Master of Music degrees at The Juilliard School where he studied with Samuel Adler and Robert Beaser, and received his Doctorate of Musical Arts from Boston University where he studied with Samuel Headrick and Richard Cornell. Other studies include composition, harmony, and counterpoint with Narcis Bonet, Michel Merlet, and Philip Lasser at La Schola Cantorum in Paris, as well as conducting with Judith Clurman, and ear training with Mary Anthony Cox.
In 2011, Dr. Abigaña was commissioned by the United States Navy Band to write his Symphony no. 1 - Omnes Gentes. This work is written for wind band, antiphonal trumpets, soprano soloist, chorus, and organ, and was premiered in 2012 by the United States Navy Band under the direction of CAPT Brian Walden in Washington, D.C. The work was also released on the US Navy Band's album, Derivations. The Navy Band commissioned Dr. Abigaña again to write As The Wood Smoke Rises, for release on their 2014 album, Sea Interludes, and for premiere at the 2014 Midwest Band and Orchestra Clinic.
In 2013, The Cape Cod Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Mr. Jung-Ho Pak commissioned Dr. Abigaña to write Passing Acquaintance, a double concerto for violin, viola, and orchestra. Since then, they have also commissioned a new completion of Holst's The Planets, to which Dr. Abigaña added Pluto, the Unseen One, and Apollo, the Bringer of Life (2013), a work commemorating the 100th anniversary of the Cape Cod Canal entitled Through the Bent and Twisted Arm (2014), Seven Faces of a Stone (2014) in honor of the 375th anniversary of the Town of Barnstable, and The Lamp Beside the Golden Door (2023), an expandable work meant to accompany narrations of various lengths on the topic of immigration.
Dr. Abigaña was commissioned in 2015 by the World Youth Wind Orchestra to write his Symphony no. 2 - Commedia, which was premiered at the 2015 WASBE Convention in San Jose, CA under the baton of maestro José Luis Pascal Viliplana. The piece is based on the three canticles of Dante's Commedia, and has since been performed around the world.
In 2016, The United States Navy Pacific Fleet Band under the direction of LT. Kelly Cartwright commissioned Dr. Abigaña to compose Still, There for the 75th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor. The piece was premiered in Honolulu, HI on December 7th of that year for an audience that included veterans and survivors of the attack.
In 2017, the Alabama Winds under the direction of Randall Coleman commissioned and premiered Devil’s Drive, part of an ongoing series of bluegrass-influenced works for large ensemble, at the Midwest Conference in Chicago. Other works in this series include Daylight Passing (2012), written for the Woodland High School Wind Ensemble, Down the Lonely Path (2014), written for the Vista High School Symphonic Band, Chorale and Prelude (2018), written for the Murray State University Wind Ensemble, and Leap (2019), written for the Kansas All-State Honor Orchestra.
Dr. Abigaña is proud to be on faculty at Boston University Academy, and is also Director of New Music at World Projects, an international tour and festival company as well as new music publisher. His music is published by World Projects.