Flute Concertos Nos 1 & 2 and Chamber Music (Including Five pieces for viola and piano)

"Eric Biddington's neatly crafted music instantly appeals in its effervescent freshness, melodic charm and harmonic piquancy with its echoes of Poulenc and Malcolm Arnold"
(Christchurch Press)

Eric Biddington was born in Timaru in October 1953. He received his schooling in Timaru and Christchurch. On leaving school he started work as a labourer and combined this with study at the University of Canterbury.

His musical studies were cut short by illness and he has not been able to return to formal study in music despite the support for this by the composer Douglas Lilburn.

In 1979 he returned to study after full time work as a labourer, going back to a combination of study and labouring work. He graduated with BMus (Hons), BA, MA (Hons) and BSc degrees and left several others incomplete.

In the late 1990s he began to record on disc the results of 30 years quietly working away at music. Five discs have so far appeared with two more due in 2006. Despite suffering from Schizophrenia and Depression since teenage years, he has become a widely performed composer of music for amateur musicians. His orchestral works have been played by many of New Zealand's amateur groups. Besides his orchestral music there is also a large quantity of chamber music.