Most of my songs are now available for sale through Sheet Music Plus. I have my own composer’s page on their site. Please click HERE to go to my page.

Just got a recording of a song I wrote many-moons ago (Once Upon a Mattress reference). The song is “The Pasture” set to the terrific Robert Frost poem and is written for unaccompanied voice.

I just finished a piece for solo piano – “The Brook.” It is a short etude and I think it’s good for advanced H.S. students and undergraduates.

We’re having a good summer here in SC. Kelly’s been with me the entire time – although she goes on the road again sooner than I’d like.

My song cycles and concert arias are now for sale – please check out the SHOP page.

As always, feel free to contact me with questions or just to say hello.

Be well, JOEL

Here’s a recording of a song of mine called “Warum sind denn die Rosen so blass” from a poem by Heinrich Heine. It’s sung in German (translation below) and performed beautifully by Kelly Cae Hogan and Luke Fang.

Why are the roses so pale?
o speak, my love, why?
Why in the green grass
are the blue violets so silent?

Why with such a lamenting voice
does the lark sing in the sky?
Why from the balsam weed does there rise
the scent of wilting blossoms?

Why does the sun shine down on the meadow,
so coldly and morosely?
Why is the earth so gray
and desolate like a grave?

Why am I myself so ill and dull?
My lovely darling speak,
O speak, my heart’s most beloved love,
why have you abandoned me?

Had a recording session at the University of South Carolina with some fabulously talented musicians, where 8 songs of mine were recorded. Here’s “Ecco mormorar l’onde” (now the waves murmur) – a poem by the Italian Renaissance giant Torquato Tasso. Sung in Italian (translation below).

Ecco mormorar l’onde
Now the waves murmur
And the boughs and the shrubs tremble
In the morning breeze
And on the green branches the pleasant birds
Sing softly
And the east smiles;
Now dawn already appears
And mirrors herself in the sea
And makes the sky serene
And the gentle frost impearls the fields
And gilds the high mountains;
O beautiful and gracious Aurora
The breeze is your messenger, and you the breeze’s
Which revives each burnt-out heart.

I knew my love for Christina Rossetti would pay off – my song cycle “Three Christina Rossetti Poems” has been included in a Christina Rossetti in music project, a digital archive housed at the University of Ottawa. It’s a cool project – and to be included with so many great composers is awesome-sauce.

The wonderful Jennifer J. Winn performing “Ode to the Cat” from SUBWAY SONGS at a benefit concert in Princeton, NJ for SAVE, A friend to homeless animals organization.

I found a recording on SoundCloud of my setting of Christina Rossetti’s “A Birthday.” Nicholas LaRoche and Aaron Franklin are the performers and they do a great job.

4 of my Heine Lieder are being performed at the Univ. of South Carolina next month, by a lovely singer named Jonathan Phillipe Cawley on a program with Bellini and Quilter (love to be included in that list). If you’re near Columbia, SC – stop by. Should be a good night of singing.