Joseph Swensen

Early life and education

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

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, he recorded the major violin concerto repertoire with conductors such as André Previn. More recently, he has recorded as soloist with The Scottish Chamber Orchestra. He now combines a career as soloist and chamber musician with that of conducting.

Conducting

Swensen currently holds the post of Conductor Emeritus of the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, where he was Principal Conductor from 1996-2005 during which time Swensen and the orchestra followed a regular concert schedule in Scotland and toured extensively in the UK, 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. From 2006 - 2011, he was music director with Malmő Opera and is guest conductor for a number of UK, European and American orchestras.

Teaching

Joseph Swensen is Starling Professor of Music (violin) at Indiana University, Jacobs School of Music. 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. At the Habitat4Music Centre in Vermont Swensen held "Total Immersion" courses in important composers for professional musicians and conductors.

Selected Recordings

Selected Compositions