Joel Hoffman

Joel Hoffman’s music draws from such diverse sources as Eastern European folk musics, Chinese traditional music and American bebop, and is infused with lyricism and rhythmic vitality. Hoffman was born in Vancouver, Canada in 1953 and completed doctoral studies at the Juilliard School.
 Currently a resident of coastal Virginia, he was Professor of Composition at the College- Conservatory of Music/University of Cincinnati for 36 years. From 2000 until 2022, Hoffman was a guest professor at the China Conservatory of Music in Beijing. From 2000 to 2021, he directed composition masterclasses at the UPBEAT International Music School in coastal Croatia. Since 2022, he has led summer composition courses at the Korea International School of Arts. Among many prizes and distinctions, Hoffman has received awards from the American Academy- Institute of Arts and Letters, the National Endowment for the Arts, Columbia University, BMI, ASCAP and the American Music Center. In 2017 he received the prestigious Guggenheim Fellowship. He has been Composer-in-Residence with the Buffalo Philharmonic and the National Philharmonic in Washington. He has been awarded residencies at the Rockefeller, Camargo and Hindemith Foundations, the MacDowell Colony, Yaddo and the Copland House. As pianist, he has appeared as soloist with the Chicago Symphony, Belgian Radio/TV Orchestra, the Costa Rica National Symphony and the Florida Orchestra among others. Hoffman’s orchestral compositions have been performed by the Chicago Symphony Brass, the BBC Orchestra of Wales, the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, the Berlin Radio Symphony, the Kiev Chamber Orchestra, the Lithuanian National Symphony Orchestra, the Slovenian Radio Symphony, the Israel Chamber Orchestra, the National Repertory Orchestra, the Memphis Symphony Orchestra and the Madison Symphony Orchestra among many others. His chamber music has been performed by such groups as the Cleveland, Brentano, Ariel, Amernet, Pro Arte, Catalyst and Shanghai Quartets, members of the Berlin Philharmonic, Trio Agora, Brightfeather, the Golub-Kaplan-Karr Trio and the Trio Terzetto. Hoffman has been commissioned by dozens of individuals and organizations including the Tanglewood Music Festival, the Fromm Foundation, the Washington Camerata, the American Harp Society, the Eastman School of Music, the Taipei Chinese Orchestra, the Beijing Bamboo Flute Orchestra, Kaleidoscope, DecaCelli, the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, Caramoor, Bargemusic, the International Viola Congress, the Irving Klein String Competition, the Prince William Symphony Orchestra and RAI Com (Rome). Hoffman’s music is regularly heard in Europe, China and North America at festivals such as St. Nazaire (France), Great Lakes, Caramoor, Newport, La Jolla and Chamber Music Northwest (US), Portogruaro (Italy) and Korsholm (Finland), and in venues such as the Southbank Centre in London, the City Hall in Hong Kong and the National Center for the Performing Arts in Beijing. Joel Hoffman’s music is published by Onibatan Music, RAI Trade, E.C. Schirmer, G. Schirmer and Lyra Music. CDs can be found on the Naxos, Albany, CRI, Koch, Accentus, Stradivarius, Centaur, EMA, Deutsche Welle, China Record Corporation, Odradek, Etcetera and Gasparo labels. More available at: http://joelhoffman.net