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Bio

Guitarist Joel Brown's actively eclectic performances as a soloist and chamber musician have included appearances with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, the Festival of Contemporary Music at Tanglewood, the Saratoga Chamber Music Festival, the Caramoore Festival, the Luzerne Chamber Music Festival, and the Killington Festival. Internationally, he has played in British Columbia at the Music in the Mountains Chamber Music Festival, in the Czech Republic at the Mikulov Guitar Festival as concerto soloist with the Martinu Chamber Orchestra, and in Asia with the Singapore Chinese Orchestra. Notable appearances in the United States include Carnegie Hall with soprano Dawn Upshaw, recitals on both coasts with mezzo-soprano Frederica von Stade, recprdings with soprano Julianne Baird, and with the Boston Pops Orchestra. Brown has also performed on NBC’s Today, CNN’s Showbiz Today, on NPR, and on the BBC.

A veteran chamber musician, Joel Brown performs regularly with flutist Kristin Bacchiocchi-Stewart. In the past decade they have appeared in recital halls across the country, dazzling audiences with their virtuosity and exceptional musical report.  Brown is also the founding member of Tritonis, a flute, guitar and cello trio that appeared at the Guitar Foundation of America conference in Miami, at National Flute Association conventions in New York and Boston, and in universities and recital halls across the nation. Brown also commissioned new music for their critically and internationally acclaimed CD, Five Premiers—Chamber Works with Guitar (Albany).  Andrew York’s Transilience from the disc has been featured on NPR’s Guitar Alive.

With the multi-talented Chris Brubeck, and harmonica legend Peter Madcat Ruth, Brown tours and records regularly as a member of Triple Play, a border crossing trio blending jazz with blues and folk music. The trio has played in almost every state of the Union, and in 2006 performed at the Monterey Jazz Festival with the legendary Dave Brubeck Quartet before a audience of 7000 . Their CDs—Triple Play Live and Watching the World (Blue Forest Records)—have won them fans around the world.

Brown’s recordings also include Bach to Brubeck (Koch International) with the London Symphony Orchestra, Chords and Thyme (Dorian Records) with English guitarist Edward Flower, King’s Court and Celtic Fair (Telarc) with the Empire Brass, and Across Your Dreams (Telarc) with Frederica von Stade. In 2002, Brown joined Dawn Upshaw, Fredirica von Stade, Meryl Streep, Chris Brubeck and the late Bill Crofut on Dance on a Moonbeam: A Collection of Songs and Poems (Telarc). Brown's most recent CD, Christmas Cedar and Spruce (Albany) has received rave reviews, and was featured on NPR’s Performance Today. Joel Brown is a Senior-Artist-in-Residence at Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs, New York, and is part of the classical guitar faculty at Schenectady County Community College.