Joseph Thalken

Joseph Thalken (piano, music director, and arranger) is an award-winning composer, conductor, and pianist whose theater and concert works have been performed internationally. His ballet Chasing Home was recently released by Albany Records, played by the Dallas Chamber Symphony and available on all streaming platforms. Thalken is the composer of the musicals Was, Harold & Maude, Fall of ’94, Borrowed Dust, and Inventions for Piano. His concert works encompass chamber, choral, orchestral, wind ensemble, and vocal music, and he also composed the music for the podcast Radio Play Revival. In addition to Patti LuPone, Thalken has served as music director and/or arranger for luminaries of Broadway and classical music including Julie Andrews, Liza Minnelli, Bernadette Peters, Renée Fleming, Rebecca Luker, Marin Mazzie, Liz Callaway, Sierra Boggess, B. J. Ward, Catherine Malfitano, Elizabeth Futral, Kristin Chenoweth, Sally Wilfert, Polly Bergen, Faith Prince, Hugh Panaro, Michael Crawford, Howard McGillin, Jason Danieley, Nathan Gunn, Rodney Gilfry, and Brian Stokes Mitchell. He has taught music-theater composition at Yale and is a proud graduate of Northwestern University.