Musicianship

Joseph Kneer holds a bachelor's degree from Oberlin Conservatory of Music, where he studied with professor Milan Vitek. Mr. Kneer traveled and performed with the Oberlin Orchestra on its trips to Carnegie Hall in 2007 and China in 2006. Kneer has also premiered the works of several colleagues, including Jonah Bloch-Johnson, Steven Bergdall, and Marcelle Pierson.

Kneer began his violin studies at the age of five with Ms. Linda Strong. He later studied with Mary West, professor emeritus of the University of Minnesota. Joe served as concertmaster for the Minnesota Youth Symphony in 2003, and has performed in the masterclasses of Paul Kantor, Jorja Fleezanis, Brian Lewis, Michael Sutton, and Pamela Frank. In August 2006, Kneer participated in the private master class of Milan Vitek in Litomysl, Czech Republic. In the summer of 2008 Joe and his piano trio took part in an inaugural summer concert series partnership between the Peabody Institute and the Yong Siew Tow Conservatory in Singapore held in La Loingtaine, France. In May 2009 Kneer and the trio premiered Roger Zare's Northern Lights, a work commissioned by the Annual Reviews Scientific Publications Board, as part of their annual concert presentation in San Jose, Ca.

Mr. Kneer is currently enrolled at the Peabody Institute, where he was awarded a full-tuition assistantship in ear training. He recently completed his masters in violin with professor Herbert Greenberg, and is currently in his second year as a doctoral candidate in the studio of Violaine Melancon. In 2010 Kneer was appointed a Graduate Teaching Fellow in Music Theory, and plans to complete a masters in Music Theory Pedagogy in 2011.

Kneer is also an active choral conductor. In 2008 he was appointed assistant conductor of the Brown Memorial Presbyterian Chancel Choir, and has since led the forty-member ensemble in performances of Part 1 of Handel's Messiah, and Brahms's Alto Rhapsody. Joe and the choir will be performing the Fauré Requiem in the fall of 2010.