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The American choral conductor, organist and composer, Joel Martinson, a product of two generations of clergy-musician families, was born in Minneapolis and raised in Oregon. He has worked as a professional musician in Episcopal, Roman Catholic, Lutheran, Presbyterian and Reformed Jewish houses of worship since his teens. He studied Music - Organ, Composition, Voice & German at Luther College in Decorah, Iowa (1978-1981). He obtained his Bachelor of Music degree in Organ Performance (1981-1982) and his Master of Music degree in Organ Performance (with secondary area of Composition & Church Music) (1982-1984) from from University of North Texas in Denton, where he was an organ student of Dr. Charles S. Brown. He won 1st place in the 1982 National Organ Competition sponsored by First Presbyterian Church, Ottumwa, Iowa, and the 1993 Wurlitzer Organ Prize sponsored by the Music Teachers National Association. He also was a finalist in the National Organ Competition of First Presbyterian Church, Fort Wayne, Indiana.
Joel Martinson served as Director of Music Ministries and Organist at Saint Rita Catholic Community in Dallas for 16 years, where he created a large, diverse and nationally-recognized music and arts program, and helped secure an important organ by the Bedient Pipe Organ Company. Since June 2014, he holds the position of Director of Music Ministries and Organist at The Episcopal Church of the Transfiguration in Dallas, Texas, where he coordinates the vibrant musical life of the parish, including choral and instrumental ensembles for all ages, a music series, and an exciting new organ project by the firm of Richards, Fowkes & Co.
Joel Martinson is known for his rhythmically-vibrant and musical interpretations of organ works spanning the centuries, as well as for his stylistically-sensitive playing of the works of J.S. Bach and other composers of the Baroque period. A frequent organ recitalist and performer of hymn festivals, he has also been invited to lecture on the diverse styles of sacred music at the turn of the 21st century as well as his work as a composer, speaking to AGO chapters and conventions, denominational gatherings, and university students. He also has been called on to introduce new music for congregation, piano, organ, and keyboard with instruments. From 2000 to 2004, he was Adjunct Faculty in Church Music at The University of North Texas in Denton, where he taught a series of courses in the historical and modern practice of liturgy and church music. He was awarded membership in both Pi Kappa Lambda and Phi Kappa Phi, and was recently inducted into the Dallas Chapter of Sigma Alpha Iota as a Distinguished Member and National Arts Associate.
An active composer, Joel Martinson has been commissioned by a wide array of churches, musical organizations and individual performers across the United States. His award-winning compositions have been widely featured at conventions of professional and denominational musicians’ organizations in the USA, and have been performed throughout North America and UK, as well as on the European, African and Asian continents. His works have been recorded by professional choral organizations, university choirs and wind ensembles, community and church choirs, acclaimed organ recitalists, and other performers. They have been heard nationally on both American Public Media’s Pipedreams and National Public Radio’s Performance Today. Nearly 100 of his works are published by Oxford University Press, Paraclete Press and a number of other respected US music houses.
Joel Martinson’s work as an accompanist stems from his early years, and he continues to collaborate with vocalists and instrumentalists on the organ and piano. He has twice served as organist for the Choir of Men and Boys of Saint Mark’s School of Texas on its tours of England, including playing for services in Westminster Abbey, Saint George’s Chapel, Windsor, Norwich and Gloucester Cathedrals. He was also organist for a recording of the Requiem and other works of John Rutter made by the Turtle Creek Chorale and Women’s Chorus of Dallas at Dallas’ Meyerson Symphony Center on the C.B. Fisk Organ, Opus 100, as well as for a CD which included some of his own compositions made in the Meyerson by the choirs of Cathedral Guadalupe. |
