Joshua Horowitz

Joshua Horowitz, chromatic button accordion, cimbalom and piano, received his Masters degree in Composition and Music Theory from the Academy of Music in Graz, Austria, where he taught Music Theory, was Director of the Yiddish Music Research Project and served as Research Fellow for nine years. He is currently adjunct Professor at Sonoma State University.

Josh is the founder and director of the ensemble Budowitz, and a founding member of Veretski Pass. He has performed and recorded with The Vienna Chamber Orchestra, Theodore Bikel, Ben Goldberg, Joel Rubin, Brave Old World and the late Adrienne Cooper. He was a featured accompanist for Itzhak Perlman on PBS’s 40th Year Celebration of the Great Performance TV series and his own recordings have achieved international recognition.

Joshua is the recipient of numerous awards for his work as both composer and performer. He received the Prize of Honor by the Austrian government for his orchestral composition, “Tenebrae,” and the “Award for Outstanding Talent in Composition” from the City of Graz for his children’s Opera, “Der Wilde Man.” Joshua was twice finalist in the National American ASCAP competition. While teaching at the Graz Academy of Music he was awarded both The David Herzog and Fritz Spielmann Awards, and received ongoing support from Louise M. Davies for his dedication to music creativity and education. Films featuring his music and scoring have been nominated for an Emmy (Defiant Requiem) and have been awarded the Indie Film Fest Award of Merit and second place in The Palm Springs International Film Festival 2013 (Blast Zone) as well as the British Sandford St. Martin Trust Religious Broadcasting Award (Some of my Friends are Jewish).

In 2001, Joshua’s group, Budowitz, was chosen by the Austrian government to represent the country in the International Celebration of World Culture’s held at the “House of the Cultures of The World” in Berlin. His music has also been featured on the International Emmy Award winning German TV series, “Berlin, Berlin.”

Joshua worked as a music therapist in Austria and is a co-founder of the Austrian experimental composer collective, “Die Andere Saite.” He taught Advanced Jazz Theory at Stanford University with the late saxophonist Stan Getz and is a regular teacher at Klez Kamp, Klezmerquerque, Klez Kanada, Klez California and was Music Director of the Klezmer Festival Fürth, Germany for over a decade. His musicological work is featured in four books, including The Sephardic Songbook with Aron Saltiel and The Ultimate Klezmer, and he has written numerous articles on the counterpoint of J.S. Bach. His most recent opera, “Lilith The Night Demon” was premiered by the San Francisco Choral Artists and he will be touring and performing live music to the silent film, “The Yellow Ticket” with Alicia Svigals in 2017. Josh is also currently working with Veretski Pass on Anthony Russell’s Convergence project, to be released soon on CD.