ABBA

Violinist from Uniondale, New York, whose mother informed his early music education, playing the records of Jussi Bjoerling, Fritz Kreisler, and John McCormack. Joseph may also have been influenced by the parish priest, who visited often and entertained them with Irish jigs and reel on the fiddle. There was one recording, however, that thoroughly captured Joseph’s imagination: Ludwig van Beethoven’s “Violin Concerto in D” as performed by the Boston Symphony Orchestra and soloist, Jascha Heifetz.

Joseph was quite the swimmer, as well, but he respectfully declined a full scholarship to pursue music instead. He attended the State University of New York in Albany and Yale University, earning a Bachelor’s and Master’s degree, respectively. His teachers included Nathan Gottschalk, Jacqueline McCann, and Joseph Silverstein. He enhanced his education by participating at the New York String Orchestra Seminar, the Sarasota Music Festival, and Tanglewood.

In 1976, while serving as the concertmaster for the Boston University Symphony Orchestra, he and his colleagues placed second in the Herbert von Karajan International Orchestra Competition in Berlin, Germany.

One of his earliest recordings may only be available through the Library of Congress: On 24^th June 1977, he took part in the American Harp Society National Conference, which was held in Boston, Massachusetts. The program comprised Karl Kohn’s “Souvenirs II”, Sergiu Natra’s “Divertimento”, Ned Rorem’s “Book of Hours”, Gunther Schuller’s “Fantasy”, and Michael Seyfrit’s “Sleepwalk”.

He was pursuing his doctorate at Boston University in 1978 when he auditioned and won a spot with the Boston Symphony Orchestra. Other groups with whom he has worked include the Albany Community Symphony Orchestra, the Boston Pops, the New Hampshire Philharmonic, the North Shore Philharmonic, the Pioneer Valley Symphony, and the Yale Philharmonia.

In 1983, he made an appearance on the small screen when he and three of his fellow BSO artists performed Antonio Vivaldi’s “Concerto for Four Violins in B minor” with the Boston Pops Orchestra on PBS.

He was the featured soloist on 13^th April 1985 when the New Hampshire Philharmonic performed Max Bruch’s “Scottish Fantasy” at the Dana Center in Manchester.

In the 1990s and beyond, he appeared on several recordings, most of them with the Boston Pops, such as America, American Visions, The Celtic Album, Chris Botti in Boston, Holiday Pops, My Favorite Things: A Richard Rodgers Celebration, and A Splash of Pops. He also did a chamber album with Deborah DeWolf and Steve Emery entitled An Evening of Music in 2004.

On 10^th March 2006, the BSO joined forces with mezzo-soprano Lorraine Hunt Lieberson, who performed her husband Peter’s “Neruda Songs for Mezzo-Soprano and Orchestra”. The evening was rounded out by Beethoven’s “Symphony No. 7 in A, Op. 92”, Elliott Carter’s “Three Illusions”, and Richard Strauss’s “Till Eulenspiegel’s Merry Pranks, Op. 28”.

Joseph retired in 2010, after more than three decades of service to the BSO. Two of his last performances took place in the spring and summer of that year. In April and May, they teamed up with Emanuel Ax for Beethoven’s “Piano Concerto No. 4” which was sandwiched between the master’s “Leonore Overture No. 2” and Bela Bartok’s “Concerto for Orchestra. Arabella Steinbacher was the guest soloist when they performed—fittingly—Beethoven’s “Violin Concerto in D, Op. 61” on 8^th August 2010, an evening that culminated with Antonin Dvorak’s “Symphony No. 8 in G, Op. 88”.

In the field of education, Joseph has served on the faculties the Boston Conservatory and the New England Conservatory of Music.

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