Joseph SkerikArtist Affiliate: ViolaViola, Vega String Quartet
Since 2023, violist Joseph Skerik has been a member of the Vega String Quartet, holding a permanently endowed residency at the Emory Chamber Music Society of Atlanta and serving on faculty at Emory University and Oxford campus.
As a member of the Vega Quartet, Joseph has recently made recordings of commissions by Emily Koh and David Gardner for PBS and collaborated with artists such as the Juilliard Quartet, Zuill Bailey, Gloria Chien Jon Kimura Parker, Aloysia Friedman, Mark and Maggie O’Connor, David Coucheron, Ettore Causa and Amy-Schwartz Moretti and has appeared at Zankel Hall at Carnegie Hall, The National Gallery in Washington D.C. in venues in Charlotte, Raleigh, Mexico, Atlanta, New York, North Carolina, Michigan, California, Memphis, Maine, Washington, Texas and Alaska.
Joseph is also invited as a performer and teacher on series and festivals such as the Highlands-Cashiers Festival, Newport Classical, Dame Myra Hess Concerts, Chicago’s Rush Hour Concerts, Montecito International Music Festival, American Chamber Music, Prussia Cove's Open Chamber Music, Tallgrass Chamber Music Festival, Methow Valley Chamber Music Festival, Heifetz Institute, Vivace Foundation International Music Festival and the Lake George Music Festival and has also appeared on numerous tours for the Heifetz Institute, both as a soloist and as a chamber musician. His chamber collaborations have included performances with artists such as Ani Kavafian, Ilya Kaler, Edward Aaron, Ransom Wilson, Dmitri Vorobiev, Boris Slutsky, Erin Keefe, Nathan Meltzer, Umi Garrett, Margaret Batjer, Leslie Robertson, Victor Asuncion, Colin Carr and Dimitri Berlinsky.
Before his current appointment Joseph attended the Interlochen Arts Academy, Cleveland Institute of Music, Paris Conservatory and the Yale School of Music, studying with Renee Skerik, David Holland, Jeffrey Irvine, Jean Sulem, Marc Desmons and Ettore Causa. His solo and chamber music accolades include the Yale School of Music’s Broadus Erle Prize in Chamber Music, 3rd Prize in the Oskar Nedbal Viola Competition in Prague, 2nd Prize in the American Viola Society Competition in Los Angeles and a National YoungArts Merit Violist award.
Committed to presenting high-quality chamber music performances in his home-region of Northern Michigan, Joseph serves as co-artistic director of Viridian Strings, a chamber music series in Northern Michigan. The series has presented venerable rising chamber musicians such as Nathan Meltzer, Brian Isaacs, Nina Bernat, Claire Wells, Umi Garrett and more to a variety of venues around the Grand Traverse region.
As a teacher, Joseph maintains an undergraduate viola studio at Emory University and has given masterclasses at Interlochen, Duke University, Central Michigan University and Florida State University. Joseph is also currently serving as director of chamber music studies at Emory’s Oxford College. He resides in Atlanta, Georgia.
