about

Joseph Welch is a dynamic musician and adaptive educator who thrives on conceptualizing and bringing creative visions to life.

 

Most at home on a piano bench and working with singers, he is a stylistic chameleon, slipping seamlessly from art song to blues and from continuo realization to chord charts. This versatility lends itself to crossover work, where he performs eclectic cabaret-styled recitals with singers like Christine Brewer, Schyler Vargas, Corie Auger, and Meredith Pyle.

 

His range is similarly on display as pianist for the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra's In Unison Chorus. Under the baton of Kevin McBeth, In Unison performs all styles of music written by the African diaspora, collaborating with the Symphony and artists such as Wintley Phipps, Bebe Winans, and Capathia Jenkins. Welch also plays as a substitute musician with the SLSO for classical concerts and movies.

 

As Artist-in-Residence at Opera Edwardsville, Welch has played all regular concerts since the company's inception in 2018. Keeping his orchestra reduction chops in shape, he plays a wide range of the operatic repertoire for singers such as Alexandra Lobianco, Christian Pursell, and Ann Toomey. Regardless of genre, Welch's goal is to work with singers to make a piece their own. He regularly arranges on the fly, including most of the selections recorded for the “Twelve Days of Opera Edwardsville” video series.

 

In a rich and varied career, Welch has previously worked with the Illinois Symphony Orchestra, Opera Theatre of St. Louis Artists-in-Training, SLSO Holiday Festival Chorus, Arts & Faith St. Louis, Variety Theatre, and St. Louis Children's Choirs. As soloist, he performed Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concert No. 2 and Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue. Most of Welch's music directing credits are at Blackburn College, where he conducts choral major works, musicals, operas, and anything else the students want to do (rock, folk, and more). He has also music directed for Marble City Opera, SIUE Opera, and Summer Showbiz. At Opera Edwardsville, he has music directed and performed the complete catalogue of John Davies' “Operatales”.

 

As Professor of Music at Blackburn College, Welch inherited a music program marked for shut down. Seeing potential in the program, he wrote a new curriculum that was unanimously approved by the faculty. After its approval by the Board of Trustees, he started assembling the new program, which centers on the mission of the college and gives voice to the unique qualities of each student.

 

A practical dreamer, Welch began building the infrastructure to support the program, including developing community buy-in, meeting with donors, securing grant funding, and starting choirs for the community and local high school students without access to choral programs. He also took the College Choir to perform at Carnegie Hall, though getting them back home was the more impressive feat.

 

At the center of Blackburn's music program is a fierce commitment to collaborating with students to create their individual educational paths. Music majors craft highly personalized career paths centered on their unique qualities, gifts, and skills. Productions are chosen in light of current students' interests. Constantly finding new ways to do things, Welch's flexibility ensures students are engaged and invested in their work.

 

He quickly became Chair of the Department of Music and Theatre. In addition to general oversight of staff, facilities, and budget, he worked with students to craft Foundational Statements about values, mission, and vision. Additionally, he developed a meaningful five- year strategic plan with achievable goals to support on-going maintenance and aspirational stretches for the program.

 

His previous teaching appointments include adjunct work at McKendree University, Southern Illinois University, Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, and St. Charles Community College. He has given masterclasses or performed residencies at University of Wisconsin - Green Bay, Millikin University, Southwestern Illinois College, and Illinois State University.

 

Welch was named the 2023 Teacher of the Year for the Illinois State Music Teachers Association. He was also selected Member of the Year by his local association, Gateway Arch East MTA, in 2017 and 2023. At Blackburn College, he received The Hudson Prize for Scholarly and Creative Accomplishment in 2024, Faculty Diversity Award, CKI Professor of the Semester, and Ann Reichmann Outstanding Adjunct Instructor Award. The Bunker Hill Education Foundation inducted him to the Wall of Honor in 2022.

 

Welch earned his Doctor of Musical Arts in Collaborative Piano at the University of Minnesota, where he studied with Timothy Lovelace and Noriko Kawai. His doctoral project, Collaborative Piano in Higher Education, was an on-the-ground look at the way five distinguished collaborative piano degree programs functioned. He was a National Association of Teachers of Singing Intern, studying with Craig Terry and Michelle Marwart Deveaux in a two week intensive program.