Joseph Puglia

Violinist Joseph Puglia made his solo debut in the Amsterdam Concertgebouw as part of the 2009 Holland Festival. Reviews from the concert were overwhelmingly positive, with the headlines reading “Exceptional Debut Violinist Puglia” (NRC Handelsblad) and “Puglia Brings Hall to a Boil” (De Volkskrant). He has performed in major concert halls throughout the world, such as Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center (New York), Queen Elizabeth Hall (London), Cite de la Musique, Salle Pleyel (Paris), and in Australia at the Melbourne International Arts Festival. After hearing a recital, cellist Anner Bylsma was moved to write of his playing “Joey Puglia is the best.” Highlights of his 2015 season include performances of concerti by Mendelssohn, Mozart, Pärt, Saariaho, Berio, Denisov, Hillborg, and van Vlijmen, numerous broadcasts on Dutch Radio 4, a CD recording of music by Luciano Berio for the Attacca label, and chamber music performances in The Netherlands, USA, France, UK, Italy, and Norway.

Joseph is an avid promoter of 20th and 21st century music, and in 2015/2016 will give world premieres of two separate violin concerti written for him by composers Joey Roukens and Kate Moore. He has recently started a project dedicated to promoting the music of Luciano Berio which will include a CD recording of Berio’s Sequenza, Corale (with the New Utrecht Philharmonic), Due Pezzi (with pianist Ellen Corver), and 34 Duets for two violins. Each duet will be recorded with a different violinist and will therefore be the first recording of these pieces as Berio intended: with as many violinists as possible of all ages and abilities, from 7 year old students to Joseph’s own former teachers. In addition to the CD, Joseph will also be giving masterclasses on Berio’s music at institutions including the Royal Conservatory (Netherlands), Netherlands Youth Orchestra summer academy, and School for Strings (New York). He will also record bonus versions of Berio’s Duets for special release on his website.

Joseph performs regularly as concertmaster of the Asko|Schoenberg Ensemble, the leading Dutch ensemble for contemporary music. He has participated in the Lucerne Festival in Switzerland and the Klangspuren Festival in Austria, where he worked closely with Pierre Boulez and members of the Ensemble Intercontemporain. He has given countless premieres in Europe, the USA, Asia, and Australia, and has worked closely with many of today’s leading composers including John Adams, Peter Eötvös, Jörg Widmann, Heinz Holliger, Oliver Knussen, and Louis Andriessen.

As a chamber musician Joseph has collaborated with members of the Juilliard and Brentano String Quartets, Osiris Trio, Brooklyn Rider Quartet, Reinbert de Leeuw, Vera Beths, Gordan Nikolic, and the Rubens Quartet, as a member in their 2010/2011 season. In the 2015/2016 concert season he will create, curate, and perform in a concert series at the Gemeentemuseum in The Hague, which will seek to create connections between current museum exhibitions and chamber music masterworks, and will provide an opportunity to display the museum’s extensive instrument collection which is currently in storage. He has recorded chamber music for the Sony Classical and Hungaroton labels, and his performances have been broadcast on television and radio programs in the US, Netherlands, France, and Australia. He has performed in many chamber music festivals throughout the US and Europe, such as IMS Prussia Cove (UK), Lucerne (Switzerland), Kneisel Hall (USA), Festival dei dui Mondi (Italy), Sacrum Profanum (Krakow), Festival Musique de Chambre Givery (France), Musique a Marsac (France), and the Tiberius Festival (Romania).

As an orchestral musician, Joseph has frequently appeared as guest concertmaster with orchestras such as the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic and Northern Netherlands Orchestra, and as principal second violin with the Netherlands Chamber Orchestra and the Mahler Chamber Orchestra for concerts in Vienna (Theater an der Wien) and Milan (La Scala).

Born in New York City, Joseph began the violin at age 4 and studied with Louise Behrend at the School for Strings and Juilliard’s Pre-College division. In 2002, he was accepted to Juilliard’s college division with a full scholarship where he studied under Robert and Nicholas Mann. He received his Master of Music degree with the highest possible marks at the Royal Conservatory in The Hague in 2008, working with Vera Beths. He has also received coachings and played in masterclasses led by Anner Bylsma, Barbara Hannigan, Anssi Karttunen, Thomas Riebl, David Takeno, and members of the Alban Berg, Hagen, Juilliard, and Guarneri Quartets.

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