He also has featured Ron Holz, leader of the Lexington Brass Band, who had charge of the GABBF history conference Friday.
The magazine has a strong circulation in the United States, Canada and England.
Biggs calls himself a publisher and promoter of brass bands. He made the career change 13 years ago after working in electronics.
"It was quite a change and a very good change," he said.
He enjoys the heritage of brass bands and said it is refreshing to see what brass music was like a 150 years ago.
"Fantastic" is the word he used to describe the Great American Brass Band Festival. "It's a great product born and built here in the past 20 years. It's tremendous and top quality music. I'm really knocked out by it," said Biggs.
Biggs wasn't the only foreign visitor to the GABBF this weekend. Young Jin Kin, an 18-year-old trumpeter from Canada, came to gain experience in his study of the trumpet.
A native of Korea, he came to Toronto with his family when he was a child and has been studying the trumpet with trumpeter Bob Gray, a former member of the Canadian Brass Band.
"I brought Young to the festival to get experience," said Gray. "I think he needs to learn about American band history and experience the festival."
Gray said the history conference is a good way to learn about American band music and see how proud the Americans are of their musical heritage.
"We don't have Civil War instruments in Canada. Our country is much younger so we don't have the history."
'There was always something about the trumpet'
Young is doing something that is practically unheard of in his native Korea.
"It's unusual for a Korean to play a brass instrument," said Young. "They prefer softer music like a violin or wind instruments. Very few people play brass. They think it is more of a military instrument and say a trumpet has a harsh sound."
However, Young decided he liked the trumpet after attending a Christian mission trip to Nicaragua.
"I want to give my life to mission work," he said. "After I returned from the trip, every time I read the Bible, there was always something about the trumpet."
Gray, who works with The Salvation Army, said for some reason, it appears that God put him and Young together. Gray acts as a mentor to Young.
"Koreans are really surprised that I play the trumpet," said Young. "There are no famous trumpet players in Korea."
Young racked up 1,000 hours of playing his trumpet during his performances and practices while in the high school band for two years. He also has studied under Barton Woomert, principal trumpeter with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, and plans to continue his studies at the University of Toronto.
Young attended a master class for musicians Saturday morning and played with the Army Brass Quintet.
Gray took trumpet instruction from DiMartino and said his goal is passing it on to others like Young.
"That's what it's all about."
