JOSEPH HALLMAN is a young composer based in Philadelphia who has worked with some of today’s most talented musicians and artists. Known for his generosity of collaboration and joy for composing, he is quickly becoming a noted name on concert programs both nationally and internationally. In addition to teaching a studio of young composers, he has been invited to conduct master classes and lectures, sit on panels, and serve as an adjudicator at home and abroad.  He has been named, by NPR, as one of the Top Composers under 40.  He has also been named Best Musician by several Philadelphia magazines and newspapers.

Hallman’s series of chamber concerti were composed for members of the Philadelphia Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, Pittsburgh Symphony, and Cleveland Orchestra. Akin to Bach’s Brandenburg Concertos and Hindemith’s Kammermusik, these pieces have won acclaim for their wit and strength.

Among his most prominent collaborations, Hallman has composed multiple concerti and chamber and solo works for the internationally acclaimed cellist Alisa Weilerstein, winner of a 2011 MacArthur “Genius” Grant.  The live premiere recording of The St. Petersburg Concerto is available on iTunes and all other major digital distributors.   He is currently working on a Second Sonata for cello and piano for Ms.  Weilerstein. Hallman’s work with poets, in particular Jessica Hornik, has inspired strong relationships and beautiful works for voices and chamber ensembles. The Inscape Chamber Music Project, on the Sono Luminos  label, recorded and released Three Poems of Jessica Hornik and imagined landscapes: six Lovecraftian elsewheres, which was then nominated for a Grammy award.   He is currently working on two song cycles for soprano and string quartet (Mudtime and Vermont Seasons) with the Vermont Poet Laureate, Sydney Lea. He has had the distinct pleasure of working with the English horn icon Thomas Stacy, of the New York Philharmonic, bassoonist Pascal Gallois, organist Kevin Bowyer, principal clarinetist of the Columbus Symphony, David Thomas.

Hallman has also worked in the downtown New York music scene with the experimental group ThingNY. His Suite for Boombox and Piano was composed for Kathy Supové, who premiered the Suite at the Tribeca Music Festival.  His Aphorisms was written for the dramatic pianist, Anthony DeMare. He has also collaborated with the poet and screenwriter Antwone Fisher. Cultivating his special love for chamber music, Hallman has worked with the Avian Ensemble, Chamber Music Now, Network for New Music, Dolce Suono and several chamber groups. His Alice, a ballet based on Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland, was premiered in San Diego in April 2010 and has been produced on two other occasions since its premiere.

Hallman teaches at Drexel University.  He is the Composer-in-Residence of the Pikes Falls Chamber Music Festival and has served in similar roles at the Rosenbach Museum in Philadelphia, The Traverse Arts Project, Strings Music Festival, and many Universities and Colleges domestically and internationally . He has worked with the American Composers Forum in multiple capacities.