Born in the San Francisco Bay Area in 1981, Joshua Charney earned a bachelors degree from the University of Southern California and a masters degree in the performer/composer program at the California Institute of the Arts. He has composed for chamber orchestras, jazz ensembles, as well as for film, dance, and theater productions. He is also an active pianist and improviser. In February of 2007, he performed composed and improvised dance music in conjunction with the LA Contemporary Dance Company. The work premiered as part of a month long residency at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Before that, he composed and performed new original music for Peter Weiss' play, Marat/Sade. It ran in August of 2006 at the Sacred Fools Theater in Los Angeles and won an LA Weekly Theater Award for Best Production. Charney's work draws from such diverse sources as Eastern European folk music and jazz as well as other improvised musics. His work is possessed by a lyrical essence and a heavily structured, almost narrative quality. Charney has studied with composer and trumpeter, Wadada Leo Smith. He has also participated in the Upbeat Uzmah summer composition course in Croatia where he studied under Joel Hoffman. His work has been performed by the Milna Ensemble, CalArts Chamber Orchestra, and such notable performers as Wadada Leo Smith, Vinny Golia, John Lindberg, Larry Koonse, and Alphonso Johnson.
Charney resides in Los Angeles, where you can see him play solo and with LA based rock band, Le Switch.
