Violinist Joseph Puglia has praised his “mindblowing” performances (Luister), and the “amazing, magical moments” he creates in concert, saying that “on the way home you notice that your ears have opened – even the familiar noise of the city sounds different” (De Volkskrant). He has given concerto and chamber music performances at venues such as Lincoln Center and Carnegie Hall (New York), Library of Congress (Washington DC), Southbank Center (London), Salle Pleyel (Paris), and Melbourne International Arts Festival (Australia). His solo debut in the Royal Concertgebouw in Amsterdam was hailed by the Dutch press as “Exceptional” (NRC Handelsblad), saying he “brought the hall to a boil” (De Volkskrant).
Current projects include “Voices of the Violin”, which explores how a violin’s own personality influences our musical experiences. This project will connect composers directly with audience members and culminate in a series of new commissioned works, to be recorded and premiered in 2023. He is also researching how active audience participation can create deeper musical connections in concerts, through the music of Pauline Oliveros and others.
Joseph appears as guest concertmaster with most of the major Dutch orchestras, as well as the Chamber Orchestra of Europe and Ensemble Resonanz. As concertmaster of the Asko|Schoenberg ensemble, the leading ensemble for contemporary music in The Netherlands, he curates “…and Beyond”, an unconducted concert series connecting classical and contemporary music. He is also involved in discovering historical approaches to Brahms’ orchestral music, with Johannes Leertouwer and Clive Brown.
Joseph’s extra-musical interests have led to performance/talks on topics like “Music and Space” at the European Space Agency, as well as “Music and AI” and “Music and Physics” with his wife, physicist Stefania Giodini. From 2015-2017 he created and curated a series of chamber music concerts at the Kunstmuseum in The Hague, performing music from the 17th – 21st centuries, and connecting the concerts to museum exhibits and the museum’s instrument collection.
Joseph’s “Berio Project” was hailed as “spectacular” (Opus Klassiek), and created the first recording of Berio’s duets with young students and professionals playing together, as the composer intended. The project has led to performances throughout the Netherlands and in the US, Belgium, Norway, France, and Slovenia.
For many years he enjoyed an inspirational musical partnership with conductor Reinbert de Leeuw, having collaborated in concerti performances in the USA, Netherlands, and Germany.
Joseph teaches at the Royal Conservatory of The Netherlands, in The Hague, where he has resided since 2010. Born in New York, he studied at the School for Strings and Juilliard’s Pre-College division with Louise Behrend. He earned his Bachelor’s degree from Juilliard studying with Robert Mann and Nicholas Mann, and received his Master’s degree at the Royal Conservatory in The Hague, with Vera Beths. Important musical mentors have also included Anner Bylsma, Joel Krosnick, Barbara Hannigan, and Laurie Smukler.