Prof. Joseph Walsh

Joseph Walsh
Titles and Organizations

Assistant Professor of Accompanying and VOCAL Coaching, Dewberry School of Music, CVPA
School of Theater, CVPA

Contact Information

Phone: 703-993-1380
Campus: Fairfax
Building: de Laski Performing Arts Bldg
Room A417
Mail Stop: 3E3

Personal Websites

Biography

Joseph Walsh has three decades of experience in preparing, presenting and conducting opera and musical theater in Virginia, across the U.S. and internationally. He is a conductor admired for his ability to combine dramatic flair and theatrical excitement with sensitivity, detail and a keen sense of dramatic pacing. Recently he was music director for The Pirates of Penzance at Riverside Dinner Theater and Christmas at the Old Bull and Bush, George, Don’t Do That! and Master Class, all at Alexandria, Virginia’s Metro Stage. He has been music director with the In Series in Washington D.C. where he debuted with a production of Kabarett & Cabaret, conducted performances of Fidelio and opened their 2016-2017 season with a double bill of La Serva Padrona and Trial by Jury. Mr. Walsh was involved in the musical preparation of more than 65 productions at Virginia Opera, where he served for 17 years, most recently as associate artistic director and conducted productions of Madame ButterflyDon Giovanni, The Daughter of the Regiment and Susannah, among many others. Subsequently for three years he was general director with Lyric Opera Virginia, where among many highlights he conducted The King and I with Broadway stars Lisa Vroman and Kevin Grey. In addition to these positions, Mr. Walsh conducted at the Amalfi Coast Music Festival in Italy for five summers. He served as pianist for two summer programs at the Maputo Music Festival in Mozambique, Africa and conducted for two summers at the GMU Korean Summer Institute in Seoul. He has conducted many orchestras in performances including the Virginia Symphony Orchestra, the Richmond Symphony Orchestra, the Kansas City Symphony, the Cluj-Napoca Philharmonic Orchestra of Romania and the Collegium Philarmonicum of Naples, Italy. He has also been music director for productions at The Delaware Children’s Theatre and Three Little Bakers Dinner Theater, both in Wilmington, Delaware. Mr. Walsh is an active recitalist, accompanying both classical voice recitals and Broadway cabarets.

Currently, Mr. Walsh is a faculty member at George Mason University’s School of Music and School of Theater where he serves as conductor, music director, coach and pianist. Recently, he was music director for productions of RagsBig RiverMerrily We Roll AlongDido and AeneasLa BohèmeIolantheThe Marriage of Figaro and The Magic Flute.

Mr. Walsh serves as artistic advisor for all classical voice programs offered by the Washington D.C. chapter of the National Society of Arts and Letters. He has taught numerous voice master classes and judged many vocal competitions, including the Metropolitan Opera’s National Council Auditions (Middle Atlantic District), The National Society of Arts and Letters’ DC Chapter’s Dorothy Lincoln Smith Voice Competition, Partners for the Arts Vocal Competition and the Charles Williams Voice Competition at Levine Music, where he also serves on the faculty. Mr. Walsh has served on the Virginia Commission for the Arts Touring Panel, as well as on the coaching faculties of the Esther Boyer College of Music at Temple University in Philadelphia and the American Institute of Musical Studies in Graz, Austria. He has written several children’s opera programs, including Giovanni and the Beanstalk and The Wonderful Wizard of Opera which have toured schools throughout Virginia. Mr. Walsh maintains a private coaching studio at his home in Springfield, Virginia.

Term Assistant Professor in Accompanying and Vocal Coaching

  • Vocal Coach: Opera and Musical Theater
  • Vocal Accompanying

Degrees

  • MM, Piano Accompaniment - Chamber Music, Temple University