Joseph Swensen

Joseph Swensen
Born 1960
Era Contemporary

Joseph Swensen is a conductor, violinist, and composer. He was winner of awards, including the Leventritt Foundation Sponsorship Award and the Avery Fisher Career Award. In 2000, Swensen was awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of St Andrews, Scotland.[1] In 2014, he gave a TedX talk with the title “Habitats for Music and the Sound of Math” about music education and the developing brain, at the New York Institute of Technology.

Early life and education

Joseph Swensen was born in 1960 in Hoboken, New Jersey, and grew up in Harlem, New York City.[2] His mother was Japanese-American and his father Norwegian-American. He studied music at the Juilliard School, where his teachers included Dorothy DeLay.[3]

Soloist

Until his thirties, Swensen's career was as a violin soloist. He performed in major cultural centres, including Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center and the Kennedy Center, as well as in Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Boston. During his early career as an exclusive recording artist with BMG Classics,[4][5] he recorded the major violin concerto repertoire with conductors such as André Previn.[6] More recently, he has recorded as soloist with The Scottish Chamber Orchestra.[7] He now combines a career as soloist and chamber musician with that of conducting.[8][9]

Conducting

Swensen currently holds the post of Conductor Emeritus of the Scottish Chamber Orchestra,[10] where he was Principal Conductor from 1996-2005 during which time Swensen and the orchestra followed a regular concert schedule in Scotland[11] and toured extensively in the UK,[12] Europe, US, and the Far East. They also performed at the Mostly Mozart Festival in New York, Tanglewood and Ravinia Festivals, the BBC Proms, the Barbican, and the Concertgebouw, and recorded for Linn Records.[13] From 2006 - 2011, he was music director with Malmő Opera and is guest conductor for a number of UK,[14] European[15] and American orchestras.[16]

Teaching

Joseph Swensen is Starling Professor of Music (violin) at Indiana University, Jacobs School of Music.[17] Along with his wife, Victoria Swensen, he founded Habitat4Music, a non-profit organization devoted to establishing participatory music education programmes for children in musically under-served areas worldwide.[18] At the Habitat4Music Centre in Vermont Swensen held "Total Immersion" courses in important composers for professional musicians and conductors.[19]

Selected Recordings

Selected Compositions

References

  1. ↑ "Honour for Scottish Chamber Orchestra conductor". University of St Andrews. March 10, 2000. Retrieved February 9, 2015.
  2. ↑ Niles, Laurie. "Grigory Kalinovsky and Joseph Swensen named Starling Professors of Violin at Indiana University's Jacobs School of Music". Violinist.com. Retrieved 24 February 2016.
  3. ↑ "Joseph Swensen, violin". Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra. Retrieved 23 February 2016.
  4. ↑ "Joseph Swensen". Discogs. Retrieved 23 February 2016.
  5. ↑ "Conductor Joseph Swensen". Carl Nielsen Masterclass. Retrieved 23 February 2016.
  6. ↑ Oliver, Michael (n.d.). "Beethoven Violin Concerto; Romances". Gramaphone Reviews. Retrieved February 9, 2016.
  7. ↑ "Mendelssohn: Violin Concerto in E minor". www.classical-music.com: The official website of BBC Music Magazine. BBC. Retrieved February 9, 2016.
  8. ↑ Schwartz, KI Robert. "MUSIC; To the Podium Born: A True Believer". The New York Times. Retrieved 23 February 2016.
  9. ↑ Ponnekanti, Rosemary. "Three partners, three profiles: Joseph Swensen". The News Tribune. Retrieved 23 February 2016.
  10. ↑ Thompson, Simon. "SEEN AND HEARD UK CONCERT REVIEW: Borodin, Sibelius, Beethoven: Henning Kraggerud (violin), Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Joseph Swensen (conductor), Queen's Hall, Edinburgh, 15.10.2009". MusicWeb. Retrieved February 9, 2016.
  11. ↑ Allen, James (October 8, 2002). "Swensen fleshes out a jubilant Ninth: James Allen reviews the Scottish Chamber Orchestra conducted by Swensen at City Hall, Glasgow". The Telegraph. U.K. Retrieved February 9, 2016.
  12. ↑ Evans, Rian (4 February 2004). "BBC NOW / Swensen, St David's Hall, Cardiff". The Guardian. Retrieved February 9, 2016.
  13. ↑ Rogers, Claire (2004). "Brahms Violin Concerto, Hungarian Dances Review". www.bbc.co.uk. BBC. Retrieved 9 February 2016.
  14. ↑ Schweitzer, Louise. "London Philharmonic Orchestra, Brighton Dome Concert Hall, March 22". The Argus. Retrieved 23 February 2016.
  15. ↑ "Joseph Swensen". Signum Classics. Retrieved 23 February 2016.
  16. ↑ "Meet the Artistic Partners". Northwest Sinfonietta. Retrieved February 9, 2016.
  17. ↑ "IU Jacobs School of Music appoints Joseph Swensen to violin faculty". The Strad. April 18, 2013. Retrieved February 9, 2016.
  18. ↑ "Habitat4Music". habitat4music.org. Retrieved February 8, 2016.
  19. ↑ ""Total Immersion" at Habitat4Music". habitat4music.org. Habitat4Music. Retrieved February 8, 2016.
  20. ↑ "Johannes Brahms Sinfonia in B orchestrated". World Cat. Signum. Retrieved 1 March 2016.
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