Allen Biggs has been Timpanist with the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra since 2016. He is Principal Percussionist with the California, Oakland and Santa Rosa Symphonies. Allen also performs regularly with the Marin Symphony, and was a member of the Bay Area Jazz Composer’s Orchestra for many years. He has been first-call percussionist for Broadway productions in San Francisco for the past 25 years, playing everything from Amelie to Wicked. He plays drums with the jam band Jamalicious, and performed with Escola Nova de Samba for many years. He can be heard on recordings with Philharmonia Baroque, the Cantata Collective, and the soundtrack of the feature film Renfield. A recording he made with Chanticleer won two Grammy awards, and he performs on the Grammy-nominated cast album of A Chorus Line. Allen recently performed and recorded the world premiere of the concerto Coping Cadences by Shuying Li.

Biggs is an active educator: he taught at San Francisco State University for 15 years, and directed a steel pan program in Marin City for eight years. He is also involved in outreach to schools throughout Sonoma county. Allen runs the Moke Hill Music Festival, which takes place in the gold country town of Mokelumne Hill and celebrates contemporary music. An active volunteer teacher with the Art of Living, Allen is dedicated to creating a stress-free, violence-free society one breath at a time.