PETER JOSHEFF BIO
August 2020
Based in the San Francisco Bay Area, Peter Josheff has been on the front lines of the northern California new music scene for more than thirty years as a composer and clarinetist. He is a founding member of Earplay and of Sonic Harvest, and is a core member of the San Francisco Contemporary Music Players, the Empyrean Ensemble (UC Davis), the Eco Ensemble (UC Berkeley), and the San Francisco Chamber Orchestra. He performs frequently with Opera Parallele, and has worked with many other groups including Other Minds, West Edge Opera, Melody of China, the Ives Collective, Mills College Contemporary Performance Ensemble, the Paul Dresher Ensemble, and Composers, Inc. He has appeared on numerous recordings on the Albany, Bridge, Centaur, Innova, Arabesque, CRI, Rastascan, Tazdik, and Electra record labels. He is an Instructor of Clarinet at the University of California, Berkeley.
Peter has composed instrumental and vocal music, opera and pop songs, as well as music for dance and theater. His music has been performed by the San Francisco Chamber Orchestra, the Farallon Quintet, the Laurel Ensemble, the Bernal Hill Players, Earplay, Sonic Harvest, the Empyrean Ensemble, Melody of China, and many individual performers. His most recently-premiered works include: Dewy not, Dewy got (2020) for solo bassoon, written for and premiered by Rufus Olivier; Warped Oracle (2019) and Images from the Past (2018) for spoken voice and piano; September (2017) for solo violin; and The Dream Mechanic (2016), for woman’s spoken voice, tenor, and chamber orchestra, commissioned and premiered by the San Francisco Chamber Orchestra with tenor Brian Thorsett. His most recent completed works include Rag Wrung Dry (2020) for spoken voice and piano; On the Way to the Day (2020) for solo cello, written for Thalia Moore; and Home Brew (2020) for solo marimba, written for Haruka Fujji.
In his spare time Peter is an amateur guitarist/singer/songwriter.