Joel Hoffman (composer)

Joel Hoffman (born 1953 in Vancouver) is a Canadian composer of contemporary classical music and pianist living in Cincinnati, Ohio. He is a professor of composition at the University of Cincinnati – College-Conservatory of Music and the founder and director of the MusicX festival of new music which is held each summer at the Hindemith Music Centre in Blonay, Switzerland. He is also the current president of Chamber Music Cincinnati.

Biography

Hoffman earned his bachelor's degree from the University of Wales and a masters and doctorate from the Juilliard School. His teachers have included Elliott Carter, Roger Sessions, Milton Babbitt, and Vincent Persichetti.

He has been the recipient of many honors from organizations such as the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the American Academy of Arts and Letters, Columbia University, BMI, ASCAP, and the American Music Center.

His music is published by RAI Trade, E.C. Schirmer, G. Schirmer, Lyra Music, and Onibatan Music, his own publishing house.

Selected works

Concertante

• Double Concerto for viola, cello and orchestra (1984)
• Triple Concerto for violin, viola, cello and orchestra (1978)

Chamber and instrumental music

• Abbassare for viola solo (1976, 2007)
• Duo for Viola and Piano (1983)
• Krakow Variations for viola solo (1999)

Recordings

• America. VDM Records.
  • Includes Joel Hoffman: Blue and Yellow (Performed by Andrea Ceccomori and Elitza Harbova)
• Self Portrait. Albany Records.
  • Includes Joel Hoffman: Sonata for Cello and Piano (Performed by Parry Karp and Christopher Karp)
  • Includes Joel Hoffman: unaccompanied minor (Performed by Parry Karp)
  • Includes Joel Hoffman: Self-Portrait with Gebirtig (Performed by Gary Hoffman and the Kiev Chamber Orchestra)
  • Includes Joel Hoffman: Karptet (Performed by Christopher Karp, Katrin Talbot, Parry Karp, and Howard and Frances Karp)
• American Piano. Gasparo Records.
  • Includes Joel Hoffman: Fantasy Pieces (Performed by James Tocco)
• Piano Trios. Albany Records.
  • Includes Joel Hoffman: Piano Trio No. 1: Cubist Blues (Performed by the Karp Trio)
  • Includes Joel Hoffman: Piano Trio No. 2: Lost Traces (Performed by the Karp Trio)
  • Includes Joel Hoffman: Piano Trio on C-Sharp (Performed by the Karp Trio)
• Cubist Blues. Gasparo Records.
  • Includes Joel Hoffman: Piano Trio No. 1: Cubist Blues (Performed by Joel Hoffman and members of the Leonore String Quartet)
  • Includes Joel Hoffman: String Quartet no. 2 (Performed by the Leonore String Quartet)
  • Includes Joel Hoffman: Fantasia Fiorentina
  • Includes Joel Hoffman: Sonata for Cello and Piano
• Music by Hale Smith, Sheila Silver, Joel Hoffman. CRI Recordings.
  • Includes Joel Hoffman: Duo for Viola and Piano (Performed by Toby Hoffman and Joel Hoffman)
• Soliloquy. Koch International.
  • Includes Joel Hoffman: Partenze (Performed by Curt Macomber)
• Premiere Chamber Works. Centaur Records.
  • Includes Joel Hoffman: Music for Two Oboes (Performed by Richard Woodhams and Sara Lambert Bloom)
• Americans!. Stradivarius.
  • Includes Joel Hoffman:Each for Himself? (Performed by Emanuele Arciuli)