Described as “a truly imaginative, thoughtful and special musician,” by the late Richard Gill AO, Otto Gibbs (b. 2004) is a rising force in the realm of contemporary art music. Whilst being in the process of completing his music undergraduate degree at the West Australian Academy of Performing Arts (WAAPA), Otto has already made major strides as both a composer and a percussionist, and both him and his music have appeared both nationally and internationally to high renown.

Otto has written and arranged music for the likes of the West Australian Symphony Orchestra (WASO), the BASE Philharmonic Orchestra, The Straits Ensemble, Defying Gravity Percussion, WAAPA Symphony Orchestra, Symbios Quartet, and more - so far, his music has been performed in Australia, Singapore, and Norway. Stylistically, he is a musical chameleon, with high proficiency in writing western classical, jazz, and intercultural music, as well as music for media. His compositions won him the 2023 Royal Overseas League Orchestral Composition Prize, and third prize in the 2025 Willoughby Symphony Young Composers Award. In 2024, he was a participant of the WASO Composition Project, and in 2025, he was also the first non-Singaporean to be appointed a New Sights Fellow by Pasat Merdu. His mentors in composition have included Lindsay Vickery (WAAPA Head of Composition & Sonic Arts), Belinda Foo (LASALLE Head of Composition & Arranging), Felix Phang (Artistic Director of Pasat Merdu & The Straits Ensemble), and Callum O’Reilly (freelance composer).

An adept percussionist, Otto has played with ensembles across the Indo-Pacific, including the West Australian Youth Orchestra (Australia) and Defying Gravity Percussion (Australia and China), as well as doing freelance playing in Australia and Singapore. While classically trained, with mentorship from the likes of Jonathan Fox (Singapore Symphony Orchestra Principal Percussion) and Tim White OAM (former WASO Principal Percussion), he is also invested in the realm of Chinese percussion, and was taught by Benjamin Boo (Singapore Chinese Orchestra Principal Percussion). Otto was the recipient of the 2023 Kathryn Barris Award for Percussion, as well as a 2023 Hazelhurst Scholarship for Classical Performance.

One of Otto’s greatest achievements was being a recipient of a highly prestigious New Colombo Plan Scholarship, which allowed him to undertake a year’s exchange at the LASALLE College of the Arts, under the University of the Arts Singapore (UAS). Furthermore, he was the appointed 2024 Singapore Fellow, giving him an additional managerial role amongst his peers. Later that year, he also received a certificate of achievement from Edith Cowan University (ECU), WAAPA’s parent organisation, for scoring within the top 0.3% of their collective students. He was only one of two musicians in the institution to reach such a benchmark.