Joseph Turrin is a greatly valued contributor to contemporary American musical life thanks to his wide-ranging activities as a composer, orchestrator, conductor, pianist, and teacher. He studied composition at the Eastman School of Music and the Manhattan School of Music, and has pursued a career that has always been multifaceted. As a composer, he has produced works in many genres, including film, theater, opera, orchestral, wind ensemble, chamber music, electronic, jazz and dance.Among the many commissioned works in his catalogue, highlights include three commissions from the New York Philharmonic, Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, Live from Lincoln Center, Wynton Marsalis, Canadian Brass, New York Philharmonic Principal Brass, Ann Sophie Mutter, US Air Force Band, Notre Dame University and others. His compositions have been conducted by Kurt Masur, Erich Leinsdorf, Bram Tovey, Hugh Wolf and performed by the Gewandhaus Orchestra in Leipzig, BBC Symphony, English Chamber Orchestra, Saint Martian in the Fields, Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, Baltimore Symphony, New Orleans Symphony, Pittsburgh Symphony, New Jersey Symphony, Nashville Symphony, New Mexico Symphony, Little Orchestra Society of New York, Thomas Hampson, Sumi Jo, Frederica von Stade, Joseph Alessi, Philip Smith, Alison Balsom, Carol Wincenc, Mostly Mozart Festival, The Presidents Own - The US Marine Band, Eastman Wind Ensemble, West Point Military Academy, 1992 Summer Olympic Fanfare with the Barcelona Symphony, Ramon Vargas, Evelyn Glennie, Susannah McCorkle and others. His opera "The Scarecrow" was commissioned by a consortium of twelve universities and had its premiere at the University of Texas at Austin where Mr.Turrin was Composer in Residence in 2006.What the NY Times said about his work Hemispheres - commissioned by the NY Philharmonic: "Mr. Turrin's music is nervous, loud, swift and aggressive to the point of violence. It is also beautifully made, negotiating its constant changes of speed and pulse with grace. Mr. Turrin's music is young: no past, only future."Active as a composer, and conductor for film and theatre, Turrin lists among his many credits the scores for Alan Alda's film "A New Life" and "Little Darlings" (both by Paramount Pictures), "Weeds" (with Nick Nolte), "Tough Guys Don't Dance" (Directed by Norman Mailer), "Verna-USO Girl" produced by PBS (with Sissy Spacek and William Hurt and nominated for 3 Emmy Awards), "Nightmare on Elm Street 3," "Kingdom of Shadows" (narrated by Rod Steiger), "Broken Blossoms" (1919 silent film classic directed by D.W. Griffith, starring Lillian Gish) and for the restoration of the silent film classic "Sadie Thompson." Other silent film classics that he has scored include, "Diary of a Lost Girl," "Intolerance" and "The Hunchback of Notre Dame." His work in musical theater includes performances on Broadway with Michael Feinstein as well as the score for the musical "Frankie," with a libretto by Broadway legend George Abbott.He has received awards and grants from the National Endowment on the Arts (2011), United Nations (for contributions in the arts), ASCAP, American Music Center, National Band Association several Fellowships from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts. In addition to the Ann M. Alburger Award for Chamber Music, in 2006 he was awarded an honorary degree from the Eastman School of Music and the University of Rochester.In 2007 his opera "The Scarecrow" was selected as a finalist by the American Academy of Arts and Letters Richard Rodgers Awards and the National Opera Association both in 2006 and 2016.His publishers include: Theodore Presser, Edition Peters, Boosey and Hawkes, Alfred Music, Curnow Music, BIM Editions, Kjos Publications, Winwood Music, Paramount Pictures, Studio Music, Schott Music and C. Alan Publications. His works are recorded on the Teldec, RCA, EMI, Naxos, Cala, Summit, Albany, Klavier, MSR Classics and Crystal. He is also the author of "Music in Film" a textbook about film music published by Cognella Press.
