Bio
Joseph, OLL Class of 1977, went on to graduate from Vassar College in 1981. He then attended Accademia Musicale Chigiana, Juilliard School of Music and Westminster Choir College.
Joseph forges a unique identity as a 21st century composer with works ranging from full symphony orchestra to solo gongs to architectural sound art installations.
His latest explorations in sound have brought him to ‘Tower Music,’ using the Eiffel Tower in Paris itself as his instrument. This project builds upon ‘BridgeMusic,’ his “audacious plan” (New York Times) to compose music for a suspension bridge using New York’s Mid Hudson Bridge. These works have brought Joseph sustained international attention. In 2009 his CD “Bridge Music” (Delos) reached #18 on the BillboardClassical Crossover Music Chart.
His concert music and theatrical scores have also enjoyed particular success, including “The Contemplation of Bravery,” commissioned for The US Military Academy at West Point and his incidental score to “Waiting for Godot” at the Festival Internationale de Café Theatre in Nancy, France. He also has a large body of liturgical music for use in both Christian and Jewish worship. Many of his compositions can be heard at www.JosephBertolozzi.com and The American Music Center www.amc.net/josephbertolozzi.
Skilled as a concert organist, he’s performed his own compositions as well as those of the classical literature in the US and Europe on some of the finest and oldest organs in the world, including St. Peter’s Basilica in Vatican City and a concert tour of Portugal for the US State Dept.
He is Organist and Choirmaster at Vassar Temple in Poughkeepsie, NY and St. Joseph’s R.C. Church, Middletown, NY. He also performs and composes for his percussion project “The Bronze Collection,” a unique collection of over 60 gongs and cymbals from around the world.
Born in 1959 in Poughkeepsie, NY one year after his parents and sister emigrated from Lucca, Italy, he was a voracious reader as a child. When his interest turned to music he read biographies of composers, music encyclopedias, and ultimately musical scores from the local library. He began organ lessons solely to learn how to notate the compositions he aspired to create.
His foremost influences are Wendy Carlos, Rick Wakeman, Yes, Messaien, Stravinsky, Gregorian Chant, Caravaggio and Bernini. He also counts among his favorites the work of Scriabin, Bartok, The Beatles, Leonardo da Vinci, Salvador Dali, Mark Rothko, the English Romantic painters Millais, Leighton and Waterhouse, poet Amy Jo Zook, and writer Nikos Kazantzakis.
CDs. digital downloads and streaming audio of his music are available from iTunes, Amazon, Barnes & Noble and all other major outlets.
“I have a great family and I’m a musician…what else is there?”
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