As founding executive and artistic director for Chamber Music Albuquerque, Relâche, Music In Motion-The Virtualconcert, New Music America 1987 and as producing director for performances, tours, residencies, lectures, special projects and related media events, Joseph has:
• Directed all artistic components of performing arts series’ including program creation, marketing and promotion at, among other venues, the University of Pennsylvania’s Annenberg Center, Drexel University’s Mandell Theater, the Simms Center for the Performing Arts as part of Chamber Music Albuquerque’s yearly concert series and a variety of venues in New York City;
• Founded and directed the Relache Ensemble, balancing the independent personalities of finely tuned musicians and shaping the ensemble into one of the most respected in their field;
• Created and directed Music In Motion, a national project comprising 5 U.S. cities, Mexico City and Puerto Rico, 5 prominent performing ensembles and 34 composers in a variety of residency programs designed to develop audiences for new musical works in the context of public outreach activities;
• Co-created The Virtualconcert, a component of Music In Motion designed to create artistic content on the Internet employing evolving interactive technologies to create new works and the development of a virtual community;
• Produced and directed New Music America – Philadelphia, in its time it was among the largest festivals of new music and related media in North America;
• Supervised the installation and implementation of a computer ticketing and donor tracking system including overseeing training of staff and volunteers;
• Designed several regional projects celebrating unique aspects of the High Plains including “When They Awake,” a project that explored the music and dance of the Metís people, a large population of mixed bloods, also known as the Little Shell Tribe, who have inhabited the Midwest and High Plains since the westward expansion of America;
• Successfully spearheaded a variety of fund-raising strategies to raise millions of dollars for direct project and general operating expenses and maintain personal and professional connections to many of the leading private foundations and corporate philanthropies in the United States;
• Developed and managed balanced operating budgets for many projects — Music In Motion-The Virtualconcert had a 1.8 million-dollar operating budget and achieved all of its goals with a $30,000 surplus; each year while directing Chamber Music Albuquerque I have brought in expenses under the projected budgets;
• Served as a consultant to arts organizations in Montana and Louisiana… among those the city of Great Falls to create a fund-raising strategy to update the technical systems in their auditorium and assisted in developing a performing arts presenting program and city-wide festival of the performing arts;
• Worked extensively with large and small institutions to increase their capacity to produce performances, residencies and aligned programs;
• Created and managed exchange programs among artists and scholars between the U.S., Europe, Canada, Mexico, South America, the Caribbean and Japan;
• Developed and managed staff and boards of directors;
• Developed long and short term (3 – 5 years) business plans working closely with boards of directors, staff, community representatives and partnering arts and cultural organizations;
• Collaborated with a variety of professional arts, community and university organizations to share resources;
• Negotiated contracts with artists and their management and labor unions for services in support of a variety of projects;
• Assisted in the development and management of marketing strategies and public relations campaigns;
• Worked closely with graphic artists in the design and production of logos, brochures, catalogues and programs;
• Produced and programmed a variety of events using interactive technologies and supervised the creation of interactive web sites;
• Served as a yearly guest lecturer at Drexel University’s Graduate School of Business Administration presenting talks on Arts Administration, Program Development, Presenting and Fund-raising;
• Founded Metadesign Associates, a consulting company to serve arts and cultural organizations;
• Authored numerous articles on music, wrote “Settling Scores: A Life in the Margins of American Music,” published by Sunstone Press, Santa Fe, NM;
Professional Positions in Arts Management
As Executive Director of Chamber Music Albuquerque he was responsible for the day-to-day operations of a chamber music presenting organization that presented a 12-concert season featuring chamber music artists of the highest caliber. All aspects of arts management were tasked while developing and directing a staff and sub-contractors to implement the mission of the organization. He worked with the board of directors and staff to ensure that Chamber Music Albuquerque (CMA) achieved a visible and responsible position in central New Mexico within the arts community. He brought in new funds from local foundations, businesses and arts agencies and assisted with direct mail fund drives, an endowment enhancement drive and special events including a series of audience development programs in private homes to enhance awareness for and appreciation of chamber music. He collaborated with other presenting organizations (including New Music Santa Fe and the Lensic Theater) and Outpost Productions in Albuquerque to block-book prominent ensembles for tours in New Mexico. He oversaw the transformation of an organization from an all volunteer one to a fully professional operation aimed at serving the people of central New Mexico.
Founding Executive and Artistic Director, the Relâche Ensemble –
During the twenty three years Joseph served as founding executive and artistic director of the Relâche Ensemble it premiered over 400 new works including 200 commissioned specifically for the ensemble from composers stylistically diverse as Philip Glass, Lois V Vierk, John Cage, Arturo Marquez, Fred Ho, Guy Klucevsek, Claudio Triputti, Mary Ellen Childs, Michael Nyman, and George Russell. These works were performed in Philadelphia and New York City and on tour in venues throughout the United States, Europe, South America, and Japan. Many of these works have entered the repertoire of ensembles worldwide and been recorded by a variety of groups. Often, he arranged residencies and lectures as part of these performances, produced recordings for National Public Radio, the Canadian Broadcasting System, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation and a number of European radio and television networks. He has produced five compact disc recordings for the Relâche Ensemble and numerous radio programs that were broadcast in Philadelphia and two nationally syndicated radio programs with support from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. With a dedicated staff he created numerous educational-outreach programs to embrace the multi-ethnic population of Philadelphia and surrounding areas. Among the programs created were:
• The Latin American Composers Project – a series of residencies, lectures and demonstrations in partnership with the Association of Latin American Musicians (AMLA). Bi-lingual composers (Spanish and English) created new works while in residence in Spanish-speaking Latino neighborhoods of Philadelphia.
• The Asian-American Youth Project – a series of outreach activities in partnership with Asian-American youth groups in Philadelphia with the eminent Chinese-American composer, performer, writer and lecturer, the late Fred Ho and the equally eminent Cambodian-American composer Chinary Ung.
• The Emerging Composer – a series of short residencies, lectures, demonstrations and performances featuring new works by emerging composers, many having achieved prominence in the field of contemporary music; the most celebrated perhaps is Aaron Kernis, winner of the 1998 Pulitzer Prize for music.
• New Music In The Schools – demonstrations and presentations of new musical works in secondary schools throughout the Delaware Valley (Philadelphia and southeastern Pennsylvania, southern New Jersey and Delaware) revealing the variety of musical styles from throughout the world and their impact on the development of a unique “American musical form.”
Founding Executive Director for Music In Motion –
Developed in partnership with Atlantic Center for the Arts, a prominent artists’ residency facility located in New Smyrna Beach, Florida, and funded through a consortium of three foundations comprised of the Pew Charitable Trusts, Rockefeller Foundation and Wallace Funds, Music In Motion (MIM) was an expansive national program designed to further develop audiences for contemporary music through an elaborate network of performing ensembles, producing-presenting organizations, university arts programs and a variety of community arts agencies. With partners in five U.S. cities and connections to Mexico City, Caracas, Venezuela, Buenos Aires, Argentina and San Juan, Puerto Rico, MIM resulted in the development of 34 new works created for and performed by five leading U.S. ensembles. Each of the works was created in the context of a variety of public outreach activities, with the intent to “…demystify the creative process by sharing the musical development with audiences as the works were being made.” In order to realize this goal, Joseph worked closely with each “host site” to create a network of outreach partners. Among the partnering host-sites were the Cornish College of the Arts, The University of Washington, The Henry Art Gallery, Jack Straw Foundation and Garfield High School in Seattle; Walker Art Center and The University of Minnesota in Minneapolis; The University of the Arts, Temple University School of Music and The Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia; Orlando Museum of Art and Rollins College in Orlando, Arizona State University West in Phoenix, ASU Main Campus (The Gammage Center) in Tempe, and Pima County Community College in Tucson. Aligned with these large institutions were numerous community social and educational organizations that participated fully in the residency activities and were integral partners throughout the process. The success of MIM allowed it to slightly alter the program to embrace new technologies. The result was Music In Motion-The Virtualconcert. The final two years of MIM were dedicated to creating artistic content on the evolving Internet. The same models developed during the first three-year phase of MIM were applied to create a “virtual community” that would share in the creative process both in virtual and “real time” contexts. This resulted in four very different works, each created for performing musicians and using different software applications to develop interactive web sites using MIDI, Shockwave, Beatnik and RealAudio sound files.
Producing Director, New Music America Philadelphia 1987 –
Between 1979 and 1991 the New Music America festivals were among the largest presentations of new works in North America. Produced in a different city each year, the festivals were an ambitious attempt to broaden audiences’ awareness for music by living composers. In addition to performances by prominent artists there were sonic installations, inter-media works, seminars, lectures, recordings and the production of a variety of texts from brochures to artists’ statements, all celebrating the unique American “experimental” spirit. Throughout this time, Joseph served on the board of directors for the New Music Alliance, the organization that provided oversight to each NMA festival that was held in the U.S. and Canada.
New Music America 1987 – Philadelphia featured over 200 composers and performers from America, Canada, Europe, South America and Japan, six sonic installations located throughout Philadelphia, a lecture series titled “Talking Music,” publications and a radio series co-produced with WNYC in New York and broadcast nationally over NPR. I facilitated numerous partnerships with organizations in Philadelphia. Producing-presenting partnerships included, among others, the Province of Quebec, Canada, Division of Culture, Association of Latin American Musicians (AMLA), American Music Theatre Festival, Franklin Institute Science Museum, Institute for Contemporary Art, Philadelphia Museum of Art and Temple University School of Music. The two-week festival left a sonic trace on Philadelphia that survived well into the mid 1990’s. Immediately following the festival he began presenting a series of new and world music and dance events in the Annenberg Center at the University of Pennsylvania.
Co-Director, New Music At Annenberg –
In collaboration with With the executive director of the Annenberg Center, a yearly series was created to expand the audience base for one of Philadelphia’s most prestigious performing arts centers by presenting world music and dance, “new” music and jazz artists from throughout the world. Among those presented over a six-year span were the Philip Glass Ensemble, Steve Reich and Musicians, The World Saxophone Quartet, The Art Ensemble of Chicago, Diamanda Galas, Ali Akbar Kahn, Nusrat Fatah Ali Kahn, George Russell and the Living Time Orchestra, Festival Indonesia and the Bulgarian Women’s Choir. In partnership with the executive director of the Annenberg Center, Joseph managed all aspects of the series, assisted in raising funds for the series and worked closely with the staff and volunteers at the center.
Taught at the University of New Orleans’ Arts Administration Program –
Joseph developed courses designed to integrate the practical aspects of programming, marketing, promotion and fundraising with an historical overview of the performing arts in America. Course titles are “20/20, An Overview of 20th and 21st Century Music” and “The Arts Organization in Contemporary Society – Artistic Direction, Governance and Administration.”
Founder and President of Metadesign Associates (MA) –
MA is a consulting company to develop new programs, performances and related events within a broad historical and cultural perspective and employing communication information and production technologies. Clients have included:
• The Great Falls Civic Center in Great Falls, Montana to create a fundraising strategy and raise funds for facilities improvements and developing a multiarts presenting series.
• Wakina Sky Learning Circle, an after-school education program for children from Native American families. Developed and raised funds for a project to teach traditional dance and drumming techniques with elder master artists.
• Of Moving Colors Dance Company, to help strengthen the board of directors, train a new executive director and develop a comprehensive three-year Strategic Plan.
• UR Art & Culture, Inc./Rahim Alhaj – assisting in a project named “Little Earth.”
• Puccini Productions/The El Rey Theater in Albuquerque
• NAMI-NM – National Alliance for Mental Illness New Mexico
Producer of Concerts, Festivals and Tours
From 1983 – 1992 Joseph visited Europe numerous times. In addition to visiting major Western European cities, he established relationships with the former Easter-bloc countries of Hungary, The Czech Republic, Poland and Lithuania. These visits resulted in:
• Tours and residencies for the Relâche Ensemble throughout Europe and exchanges with composers and performers from many countries;
• Performances, lectures, demonstrations and radio interviews were arranged for visiting artists in Philadelphia, New York City, Washington, D.C. and Orlando;
• Tours for the Relâche Ensemble in many European cities including appearances at the Prague Spring Festival and the Wiener Festvolken (Vienna Festival Week);
• Visits to Mexico City, Puerto Rico and Caracas, Venezuela to develop similar exchanges with Mexican, South American and Caribbean artists that resulted in exchange projects in Philadelphia, Orlando, Phoenix and Tucson, Arizona and commissions to create new works for the Relâche Ensemble;
• A three-month residency in Japan under the sponsorship of the Asian Cultural Council in New York City to explore potential exchanges between Japanese artists, presenters and the Relâche Ensemble, expanding a network he had been developing in Japan over a 20-year period;
• Co-produced and led a two-week tour to Japan in conjunction with the American Embassy in Tokyo and the Interlink Festival;
• Co-produced and led a one-week tour of Venezuela as part of the Latin American New Music Festival;
• Co-produced and led a one-week residency at the Composer-To-Composer Festival in Telluride, CO;
• Co-produced and led performances and residencies at New Music America festivals in Hartford, CT; Philadelphia, PA; Miami FL;
• Co-produced and managed residencies and performances at the Yellow Springs Institute, Pennsylvania;
• Producer, The Relâche Ensemble in Concert at the Mandell Theater, Philadelphia Ethical Society, Philadelphia Museum of Art, The Philadelphia Arts Bank, The Annenberg Center, University of Pennsylvania, The Independence Seaport Museum.
• Producer, the annual Festival of Contemporary Music at the Mandell Theater in Philadelphia
• Producer, The Relâche Ensemble in Concert at Merkin Hall, New York City – a series over two years
• Producer, Centering: Performance In Time and Place at Painted Bride Art Center.
• Producer, PRAXIS, a series featuring new music artists from throughout the world at The Mandell Theater in Philadelphia.
• Producer, in conjunction with the City of Philadelphia, Bell Atlantic’s Evening of American Music, the opening event of the yearly Philadelphia Freedom Festival.
Radio Programs
• Co-hosted Classics Close To Home for WHYY–FM, Philadelphia;
• Co-produced Bertolt Brecht and Song, a theater work featuring the collaborative works of Brecht, Kurt Weill and Hans Eisler performed at the Wilma Theater in Philadelphia and the Yellow Springs Institute. A radio program of the program was broadcast on NPR;
• Co-hosted New Directions In Music on WXPN–FM;
• Co–Produced and co–hosted New Music Today on WHYY–FM, Philadelphia;
• Produced and wrote Focus on Contemporary Music on WHYY–FM;
• Co–Produced Soundposts, an 8–part series broadcast throughout the U.S. with support from a Corporation for Public Broadcasting grant;
• Co-Producer, writer and on-air host for “The CMA Hour” in conjunction with KHFM Radio in Albuquerque-Santa Fe;
Author
Joseph has published articles in journals and newspapers dealing primarily with issues within music and especially new music. He wrote book reviews for the Philadelphia Inquirer on a variety is topics and is the author of a book titled “Settling Scores: A Life in the Margins of American Music” that was published by Sunstone Press in Santa Fe in 2007.
Producer of Recordings
Here and Now on Callisto Records;
The Well on the Hat-Art label with Pauline Oliveros;
RELÂCHE New Music Live! on Callisto Records;
Relâche On Edge CD on Mode Records;
Outcome Inevitable on O.O. Discs;
Pick It Up on Monroe Street Music;
Fund-Raising –
Joseph has extensive experience in all aspects of fund raising having successfully generated funds from private philanthropies, government agencies, corporations and private donors. He has developed and managed several not-for-profit boards of directors and been a principal fund-raiser for a variety of local, national and international music projects. He is versed in all aspects of proposal development, submission, follow-up and reporting.
Additional professional activities –
• Founder–performer–composer, The Improvisatory Music Project, a contemporary quartet devoted to jazz;
• Performed throughout the Philadelphia Public School System under the auspices of Young Audiences, Inc.;
• Director of Music and teacher of music at the Miquon Upper School in Philadelphia;
• Music Director for The Philadelphia Cup sponsored by the Cultural Affairs Council of Philadelphia;
• Music teacher at the Community College of Philadelphia;
• Faculty member at Temple University College of Music Preparatory and Extension Division where he taught private and class lessons in theory and composition and taught a course titled A Survey of 20th Century Music; An Examination of the Musical Avant–Garde;
• Developed courses and taught in the Arts Administration program at the University of New Orleans;
• Production Coordinator for Transformations at the Yellow Springs Institute for Contemporary Studies and the Arts (YSI) in Chester Springs, PA;
• Director of New Music In The Schools, a unique program in which contemporary (classical) music was presented in secondary schools throughout Pennsylvania;
• Director, New Music Residency at Yellow Springs Institute for the Arts;
• Lighting Designer and Production Coordinator for Appel Farm Opera Theater;
• Lighting Designer and Production Coordinator at the Yellow Springs Institute;
Professional memberships –
Member, Broadcast Music, Inc. (BMI)
Member, American Music Center
Member, American Composers Forum
Former Board Member, The New Music Alliance
Former Member, Board of Directors, Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance
Former Board Member, Asociacion De Musicos Latino Americanos (AMLA)
Former Member, Association of Performing Arts Presenters
Member, Western States Arts Federation
Former Member, Western Jazz Presenters
Member, Chamber Music America
Member, New Mexico Presenters Alliance
Education –
Frankford High School, Philadelphia, PA; Philadelphia Musical Academy (University of the Arts). Graduated Magna Cum Laude, Bachelor of Music, Composition Major. Attended under the GI Bill and PMA Scholarships. Cumulative Average 3.6. Courses in composition, electronic music, multi–media theater/dance, academic studies at the University of Pennsylvania and Temple University. Temple University Graduate School. Master’s Degree Program, Composition. Cumulative Average: 3.7. Awarded a Doctoral Fellowship 1974.
Armed Forces
United States Navy, Communications Technician, Top-Secret Security Clearance, served with Naval Forces Seventh Fleet. Discharged Honorably.
Awards and Fellowships
Fellowship from Asian Cultural Council for travel/residency in Japan and Singapore
Fellowship from English Speaking Union of Philadelphia for travel/residency in Great Britain
Creative Artistry Award, Philadelphia Music Alliance
Several Meet The Composer grants
Two Artists Fellowships in Composition from the PA Council on the Arts
Compositions and Publications (A Sampling)
Tide Warnings an electronic score commissioned by the Tina Croll Dance Company and Dance Theater Workshop;
Flamedance for voice, flute, and piano;
The Silent Zero for voice & 11 instruments;
Synthasia for clarinet, oboe & tape;
Soliloquy from the Insanity of Mary Girard for soprano & 5 instruments
Prelude to the Insanity of Mary Girard for soprano & 11 instruments
Prelude to a Vision, a tape piece for voice, flute, clarinet and electronics that served as a prelude to the play, The Insanity of Mary Girard by Lanie Robertson. Commissioned by the Trans– Atlantic Theatre Company for its performances at the Edinburgh Festival other European performances.
Noumenal Suite for flt, oboe, vlc.;
Double–Wing 50, On Two for voice, flute/alto flute, oboe/Eng. horn, bass;
Double–Wing 50, On Three for voice. accordion, flute;
Everything Going Out for flutes oboe/Eng. horn, bass;
Everything Going Out, Again for voice, alto & baritone saxophones, piano;
Callisto for voice and 9 instruments;
Hay Que Meter La Puntita for voice, alto flute, and vln. vla. vlc. bass, piano;
Interests
Joseph has many interests that support and inform his professional life. He reads extensively with an emphasis on cultural studies, history and novels; he is an inveterate listener to the world’s music and enjoy a variety of musical styles, forms and languages; he is a wine enthusiast and attends wine tasting events and belongs to wine clubs; he is an accomplished athlete having transferred skills learned playing baseball to handball and has competed at regional tournaments whenever possible; he maintains a regular weight-training regimen; swims and does cross-country skiing. He practices Tai Chi with an emphasis on the Yang style of movement. He is married to Laurel Wyckoff who is the former Assistant Secretary for the Office of Cultural Development and State Historic Preservation Officer, Department of Culture, Recreation and Tourism for the state of Louisiana. An accomplished flutist, she performed with the Relâche ensemble for 18 years as well as with orchestras and chamber groups over a twenty-five year performing and recording career. She is currently the Education and Outreach Director for KNME Public Television in New Mexico.