Joseph Christianson

Joseph Christianson's versatility as a violinist has led him to perform in vastly disparate settings throughout his career: From the royal opera house in Muscat, Oman playing La Boheme with Lorin Maazel, to Yoshi's jazz club in Oakland, CA, trading solos with LA's jazz elite in Gordon Goodwin's Big Phat Band. In addition to performing, Joseph is also an avid pedagogue, committed to helping his students achieve their best violin-playing, and expanding their stylistic vocabulary.

As a member of Quartet San Francisco, he toured across North America and Europe. The quartet’s album Raymond Scott Reimagined received a 2024 Grammy nomination. He serves on the faculty of Belmont University as instructor of commercial violin.

He has collaborated with artists including Postmodern Jukebox, Steven Curtis Chapman, Augustin Hadelich, Tower of Power, Take 6 and Gordon Goodwin’s Big Phat Band. He has performed at festivals including Outside Lands, Cabrillo Contemporary Music Festival, Cremona Music Festival, ASEAN Festival (in Nanning, China), Colorado College Summer Music Festival, and Castleton Festival with Lorin Maazel.

Joseph has performed with Nashville Symphony, Berkeley Symphony and San Francisco Chamber Orchestra. He is active as a scoring session violinist in Nashville.

Joseph grew up in San Luis Obispo, CA and studied at Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University and San Francisco Conservatory. He received a B.M. and M.M. in violin performance. His mentors include Nina Bodnar, Axel Strauss, Bettina Mussumeli, Catherine van Hoesen and Herbert Greenberg.