Joseph Walsh
Joseph Walsh has more than two decades experience in presenting and conducting opera in Virginia, across the country and internationally. Mr. Walsh is a conductor admired for his ability to combine dramatic flair and theatrical excitement with sensitivity, detail, balance and a keen sense of dramatic pacing. He was involved in the musical preparation of more than sixty-five productions at Virginia Opera, where he served as Associate Artistic Director and Conductor, having conducted productions of Madame Butterfly, Don Giovanni, The Daughter of the Regiment and Susannah, among many others. He served as Conductor at the Amalfi Coast Music Festival in Italy from 2005 through 2010 and was General Director and Conductor with Lyric Opera Virginia from 2011 through 2014. He has conducted many orchestras in operatic performances including the Virginia Symphony Orchestra, the Richmond Symphony, the Kansas City Symphony, the Cluj-Napoca Philharmonic Orchestra of Romania and the Collegium Philarmonicum of Naples. Opera News praised Maestro Walsh’s production of Carlisle Floyd’s Susannah, claiming “the orchestra’s strongly expressive playing provided the firm foundation for this telling reminder of Susannah’s enduring power.”
Mr. Walsh serves as Music Director with the In Series in Washington D.C. where he recently conducted performances of Fidelio and opened their 2016-2017 season with a double bill of La Serva Padrona and Trial by Jury. He was Music Director for Alexandria’s Metro Stage recent production of Master Class and will return for Christmas at the Old Bull and Bush this fall. He currently serves as Music Director for Mason Opera at George Mason University where he has conducted productions of Gilbert and Sullivan’s Iolanthe, Ravel’s L’enfant et les sortileges, La Bohéme, The Pirates of Penzance, The Marriage of Figaro and The Magic Flute. Mr. Walsh works regularly on musical theater productions with Mason’s School of Theater.
Mr. Walsh serves as Artistic Director for the vocal programs offered by the Washington D.C chapter of the National Society of Arts and Letters. He has judged the Middle Eastern District of the Metropolitan Opera’s National Council Auditions in Washington D.C. and served on the Virginia Commission for the Arts Touring Panel. He has served 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 the state of Virginia. Mr. Walsh maintains a private coaching studio at his home in Springfield, Virginia. For more information, visit www.Joseph-Walsh.com.