Joseph W. Hill, Jr.,

Joseph Hill graduated with the Master of Music degree (MM) from the Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University. A native of Arkansas, he earned a Bachelor of Music (BM) degree from Furman University in South Carolina, where he also studied organ with Charles Tompkins and held the prestigious post as chapel organist at Furman’s Daniel Memorial Chapel, presiding over the newly-installed C. B. Fisk, Opus 121, accompanying weekly campus worship services for both the Protestant and Catholic student associations.

At Furman, Mr. Hill participated in the Furman Singers and served as its Vice-President and President. He also sang with Furman’s select Chamber Choir and he directed the men’s acapella ensemble. At Rutgers, Mr. Hill was active in the Rutgers Opera Theater, singing the roles of Joad in Handel’s Athalia, and Secrecy and Mopsa in Purcell’s The Fairy Queen, and has participated in several post-graduation performances. Mr. Hill was involved with Rutgers’ early music vocal ensemble, the Collegium Musicum—a sixteen voice ensemble dedicated to the performance of sacred Renaissance polyphony.

Mr. Hill has appeared as soloist with the Bach Choir of Bethlehem and has made other solo appearances with Amherst Early Music (Purcell’s Fairy Queen), and with the Collegium Musicum of The College of New Jersey (Purcell’s Come Ye Sons of Art). He has appeared as soloist with the Rutgers Symphony Orchestra singing Bach’s Cantata 161, as well as Leonard Bernstein’s Missa Brevis and Chichester Psalms. Past engagements have also included a recital for the Princeton Friends of Opera and the title role in Handel’s Solomon with the Choral Arts Society of New Jersey. Mr. Hill is also regularly involved with the NJ based Vox Fideles, a vocal ensemble specializing in the performance of sacred Renaissance polyphony. In 2009, Mr. Hill traveled to Oakham, England for the Tenth Annual Tallis Scholars Summer School, and in 2010, he was selected as a finalist in the 6th Biennial Bach Vocal Competition sponsored by the American Bach Society and the Bach Choir of Bethlehem. Since 2010, Mr. Hill has made critically acclaimed performances off-Broadway and in opera performances in venues throughout NYC.

An active teacher and coach, Mr. Hill has maintained private voice and piano studios in Mountainside and serves as Associate Music Director at the Class Act Performing Arts Studio in South Orange, where he also teaches group theory classes, private voice and piano, and serves as music director for the studio’s musical revues and staged shows. For 16 years, Mr. Hill served as Director of Music and Organist at the Community Presbyterian Church of Mountainside, NJ, where he directed the adult handbell choir, the adult chancel choir, and worked with volunteer directors in directing and coaching the children’s choir. Mr. Hill founded the Mountainside Community Chorus in 2011, and has conducted the chorus and professional orchestra and soloists in several highly acclaimed concerts. He served for one season as Director of Music Ministries and Organist for the historic First Presbyterian Church of New Vernon, NJ before accepting the University Director of Music position at Saint Peter’s University. In his free time, Mr. Hill loves to cook, garden, entertain friends and family, and travel. Mr. Hill lives in South Orange with his husband Reid and their Chihuahua Nugget.