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. 

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, 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, San Miguel, Atlanta and at festivals such as the Kneisel Hall Chamber Music Series and Sitka Summer Music Festival. 

Joseph is also invited as guest violist on series and festivals such as the Highlands-Cashiers Festival, LaJolla Summerfest, Montecito International Music Festival, Tallgrass Chamber Music Festival, Methow Valley Chamber Music Festival, 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, Boris Slutsky, Erin Keefe, Nathan Meltzer, Umi Garrett, Shannon Lee, Margaret Batjer, Leslie Robertson, 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 Cause. 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. Currently in its 3rd season of concerts, the series has presented venerable rising chamber musicians to a variety of venues around the Grand Traverse region.

Joseph was also a long-time attendee of the Perlman Music Program and has completed additional studies at the festivals of Aspen, Ravinia, Kronberg Academy (Chamber Music Connects the World,) Schiermonikoog, Four Seasons Chamber Music Workshop, and was also recently invited to the Open Chamber Music series (OCM) in Prussia Cove for performances. 

As a teacher, Joseph maintains an undergraduate viola studio at Emory University, where he also coaches chamber music on the college level and at the high-school level through the Vega Youth Chamber Program. He has given masterclasses at Interlochen Arts Academy, the Montecito Festival and Duke University He resides in Atlanta, Georgia.