Josiah Tayag Catalan (he/him) is a Filipino-American composer born in New York City and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area. Recently, his compositional interests have become inspired and centered around retracing his heritage through his travels in Philippines and spending time with various indigenous communities and learning about various music, dance, and folkloric/spiritual traditions specific to each tribe. He has been a finalist in the Thailand International Competition Festival and has been awarded prizes from NACUSA, the Sacramento State Festival of New American Music, the Megalopolis Saxophone Orchestra, the American Prize Composer's Awards, and the San Francisco Contemporary Music Players. Josiah has previously served as a Fromm Foundation Composer Fellow in the Composer's Conference, a Bilinski Fellowship at the University of California at Davis, the Composer-in-residence with the Diablo Symphony, and is currently a Lucas Artist Fellow at the Montalvo Arts Center for 2025-2027. His music has been commissioned and performed internationally by individuals and groups such as the Left Coast Chamber Ensemble, Earplay, Empyrean Ensemble, Lydian and Arditti String Quartets, the MANA saxophone quartet,The Megalopolis Saxophone Orchestra, Citywater, violinist Miranda Cuckson, percussionist Chris Froh, and soprano Helena Sorokina. His music is published by BabelScores.

 

Currently, Josiah is teaching as a lecturer in Music Theory, Composition, and World Music at Sacramento State, UC Davis, and is an Adjunct Professor at American River College. He received his PhD at UC Davis in composition and music theory. Outside of music and teaching, he is a tennis and baseball nerd who plays competitively and often travels and hikes around Northern California with his wife, child and adopted mutt.