Josh Spear is a British composer and performance-maker based in Oslo. Working at the intersection of music, theatre, and installation, his practice often explores the voice as a site of truth, unreliability, and transformation. His works often combine sound, staging, and physical presence to create music-theatre that questions belonging and the stories we tell ourselves.
Recent projects include “How Now Brown Cow”, a solo lipsync work about stammering, queerness, and adaptation (winner of the Stockholm Fringe Award for Theatre and Spoken Word, 2024); “Øya er død”, a 2.5-hour geolocated audio tour on Ingøya with voice-overs by leading Norwegian actors and a 90-minute organ score (premiering 2026); and “PIGSPIGSPIGS”, a folk-horror music-theatre piece created with Bastard Assignments and commissioned by Wigmore Hall, Borealis, and SPOR Festival. With Bastard Assignments, the composer-performer collective he has been part of since 2013, they have co-created acclaimed large-scale works including House (Musik Installationen Nürnberg, 2025).
He is currently developing Biscuit, a new full-scale sci-fi musical set in suburban England on the eve of the Brexit referendum. Created with writer-director Oliver Dawe and theatre director Kim Pearce, the work follows Ellie, a teenager who befriends a voiceless alien, and explores themes of voice, belonging, and political fracture.
Spear’s music has been performed by ensembles and organisations including Ensemble Garage (DE), Decoder Ensemble (DE), London Euphonia Orchestra, ICOSA, Orfea Duo, VoxLab (NO), and at major platforms such as Hellerau (DE), Warsaw Autumn (PL), Louisville New Music Festival (USA), Eastman School of Music (USA), Wigmore Hall (UK), and Constellation (Chicago). He has also collaborated closely with artists such as SISU Percussion, Alwynne Pritchard, and Tze Yeung Ho, and performed at the Venice Biennale Nordic Pavilion, Aldeburgh, Borealis Festival, KLANG, Ultima, BBC Radio 3, and more.
His work has been supported by Dramatikkens Hus, Music Norway, Jerwood Arts, and Norsk Komponistforening. Rooted in the DIY scene of London but now firmly established in Norway.

Photo: Frederick Goff

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