about

Pianist Joseph Vaz has performed internationally as a soloist and chamber musician across North America and Europe, in venues from Carnegie Hall to the Arnold Schönberg Center in Vienna.

Born in Faro, Portugal, Joseph now lives in New York City, where he is the 2025-2027 piano fellow for Carnegie Hall’s Ensemble Connect, and is also a doctoral candidate at the CUNY Graduate Center. Vaz has studied with renowned performers and pedagogues, including Julian Martin, Ran Dank, and Emile Naoumoff. He is a laureate of several national and international competitions, with recent appearances at the Pacific Stars International (2nd Prize), James Mottram International Piano Competition, and the Wideman International Piano Competition.

Joseph frequently performs at international festivals, including recent appearances at the Gilmore Piano Festival, Sarasota Music Festival, Lucerne Festival Academy, and Aspen Music Festival. He has been lucky to have the opportunity to collaborate alongside Emile Naoumoff, Charles Neidich, Susan Botti, Mike Block, Sylvia Kahan, Peter Volpe, and other inspirational mentors, and to perform for several acclaimed artists and pedagogues, including Byron Janis, Gabriela Montero, Robert Levin, Tamara Stefanovich, Jon Nakamatsu, Ursula Oppens, Awadagin Pratt, Mark Steinberg, David Dubal, George Benjamin, and Beat Furrer, among others. His orchestral debut came with the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra in 2015, and he has also performed as soloist with Harmonia Orchestra Seattle, the Seven Hills Sinfonietta and other orchestral ensembles.

Joseph is a dedicated collaborator, and regularly performs chamber music on series in New York City and beyond. As a proponent of new music, Joseph has worked closely with several composers on pieces for world premieres. His debut album, “Galanteries: The Solo Piano Music of William White,” was released by PARMA Recordings in January 2025, and has been heard on radio stations throughout the USA (WMBR, KKUP, WCVE, WRUV).

Academically, Joseph’s recent scholarly work focuses on the piano music of eclectic composer Ed Bland. He has received support from the CUNY Graduate Center and the Baisley P. Elebash Award to conduct research and analysis of Bland’s piano music set, Urban Counterpoint. Outside of music, he holds a Bachelor’s degree in mathematics and a minor in French from Indiana University, and loves reading modernist literature.

Joseph is a regular contributor to Tone Prose, a weekly newsletter about the ever-changing world of classical music.