Composer Joseph Klein holds a Doctor of Music degree in Composition from Indiana University. He is currently Distinguished Professor at the University of North Texas College of Music, where he has served as Chair of Composition Studies since 1999.
Klein’s catalogue ranges from solo pieces to works for large ensemble, including instrumental, vocal, and electroacoustic music, often incorporating intermedia or theatrical elements, and reflecting his interest in systems and musical processes drawn from such sources as fractal geometry and chaos theory. His compositions have been performed and broadcast throughout the Americas, Europe, and Asia, and have been featured at national and international music venues. He has been a featured guest composer at many institutions worldwide, has won numerous awards, and has released many recordings on the Innova, Centaur, Crystal, and Mark labels.
Klein visited Cornell having written short musical settings for poems written by Cornell’s second-year MFA poets, who performed the pieces with the composer on Friday, April 15, 2011 in McGraw Hall. This interview took place the previous day, and includes recordings of the four pieces.