Joseph Demko is an active performer throughout middle Tennessee and beyond, and currently holds the positions of Second Horn in the Albany (NY) Symphony Orchestra, Second Horn in Opera Saratoga, and Fourth Horn in the Chattanooga Symphony and Opera. Joseph regularly performs with Orchestra Kentucky, Gateway Chamber Orchestra, Nashville Opera, Memphis Symphony Orchestra, Alabama Symphony, Huntsville Symphony Orchestra, Intersection Contemporary Music Ensemble, and many other groups in middle Tennessee and beyond. Joseph is also a studio recording artist in Nashville, and can be heard in many movies, television shows, video games, and commercial albums.
Before coming to Tennessee, Joseph spent thirteen years as a freelance musician in Boston, and has performed with the Boston Philharmonic Orchestra, New Haven Symphony, New Hampshire Music Festival, Emmanuel Music, Rhode Island Philharmonic, Tucson Symphony, and many others. He has performed on many recordings with the Albany Symphony Orchestra, including the GRAMMY award-winning recordings of Conjurer by John Corigliano on the Naxos label, and Concerto for Viola and Chamber Orchestra by Christopher Theofanidis on the Albany Records label. He has also performed on several GRAMMY nominated recordings including Seeing by Christopher Rouse on the Naxos label, Sky: Concerto for Violin by Michael Torke on the Albany Records label, and Migration Series for Jazz Ensemble and Orchestra by Derek Bermel on the Naxos label.
Joseph has shared the stage with many of the greatest artists of our time, such as Yo-Yo Ma, Joshua Bell, Yefim Bronfman, Emmanuel Ax, Peter Serkin, Dame Evelyn Glennie, Joyce Yang, Stefan Jackiw, Orion Weiss, Deborah Voigt, Steven Tyler of Aerosmith, Josh Groban, and many others. He has performed professionally at Carnegie Hall, the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Boston’s Symphony Hall, and at many other venues all over the United States.
As an active music educator, Joseph teaches privately in Nashville. Before moving to Nashville, he spent over a decade as the horn instructor for the Wellesley Public Schools, and for the Dana Hall School.
Joseph holds a Bachelor of Music degree from the New England Conservatory of Music, where he studied with Daniel Katzen and Richard Mackey of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. He also studied both horn and conducting with Sylvia Alimena of the National Symphony Orchestra, and horn with Deborah Stephenson of the US Air Force Band. He is a member of the American Federation of Musicians as well as a voting member of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (GRAMMY awards). Joseph started playing horn in the Alexandria, VA public schools. In his free time he enjoys cooking, gardening, and spending time with his tripod Jack Russel Terrier “Q”.
Nashville French Horn Lessons 