A choral conductor, pianist, and singer, Joshua Fishbein composes and arranges vocal and instrumental music, specializing in choral music. His compositions have won awards from the American Choral Directors Association, the American Composers Forum, BMI, Chorus America, Chorus Austin, the Guild of Temple Musicians, the National Lutheran Choir, The American Prize, and several other organizations. Professional vocal ensembles, such as Cantus, Chicago a cappella, The Thirteen, Volti, and Washington Master Chorale, have premiered Fishbein’s music. Steeped in Jewish music, he has composed and arranged several pieces of Jewish and interfaith music for chorus and solo voice.
Since 2015, Fishbein has instructed musicianship, theory, and arranging courses as an adjunct faculty member of The Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University. Previously, he taught at The College of New Jersey, Towson University, the University of Maryland Baltimore County, and the University of Nevada Las Vegas. He also serves as Director of Music and Arts at Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Rockville and Artistic Director of the Maryland Choral Society. He previously served Episcopal and Jewish congregations in the Baltimore/D.C. and San Francisco Bay areas. Fishbein has sung baritone professionally with the Choirs of Washington National Cathedral, the Grace Cathedral Choir of Men and Boys, and Volti, among others.
Fishbein earned a Ph.D. in Music from the University of California Los Angeles, where he directed the UCLA Early Music Ensemble. He completed his Master of Music Composition at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, with additional graduate studies at the University of Maryland. He served as assistant conductor to David Conte of the San Francisco Conservatory Chorus. He earned a Bachelor of Science in Psychology and Bachelor of Fine Arts in Music (Composition) from Carnegie Mellon University, where he won the Harry G. Archer Prize in orchestral composition.
Originally from Baltimore, Fishbein studied piano performance and music theory at The Peabody Preparatory. His composition teachers include Roger Bourland, Paul Chihara, David Conte, Richard Danielpour, Nancy Galbraith, Ian Krouse, David Lefkowitz, and Lawrence Moss. E.C. Schirmer, Hal Leonard, Transcontinental Music Publications, and Yelton Rhodes Music (Subito Music) publish Fishbein’s compositions.
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