Joseph E. Fields, a pianist, conductor and composer who was a former music director and principal conductor of Dance Theater of Harlem, died on July 4 in Scranton, Pa. He was 53 and had homes in Scranton and New York City.
John Fetsock, a family spokesman, said he died after a short illness.
Joseph E. Fields, DMA
Associate Professor of Music
jefields@marywood.edu
Joseph E. Fields, DMA, is Associate Professor of Music, Music Department Administrator and Conductor of the Marywood University Orchestra. He is formerly Music Director and Principal Conductor of the Dance Theatre of Harlem, an internationally recognized ballet company. Dr. Fields has conducted professional orchestras on four continents, including the Royal Birmingham Sinfonia (London), Victoria State Orchestra (Melbourne), Prague Philharmonic Chamber Orchestra and the Shanghai Broadcast Symphony Orchestra.
Dr. Fields has performed as conductor and/or pianist at Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, City Center for the Performing Arts, and Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall in New York City; the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles; the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, DC; the Weinbrennersaal in Baden-Baden, Germany; as well as other national and international venues. As a result of his piano recital in Baden-Baden, Dr. Fields was invited to record for Südwestfunk, the German National Radio Station.
Dr. Fields received his Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the Manhattan School of Music where he was a Doctoral Fellow. He received his Master of Music and Bachelor of Music degrees from the College-Conservatory of Music in Cincinnati, Ohio, where he was the recipient of a two-year teaching assistantship during his graduate degree and was a nine-time winner of scholarships and prizes during his undergraduate years, graduating summa cum laude.
Recent creative projects have included the arrangement, orchestration and composition of new music for “St. Louis Woman: A Blues Ballet” for Dance Theatre of Harlem; the original soundtrack for “My Last Fall,” a film by Jerry Melichar; three songs to poems of e.e. cummings; collaboration with writer/director Nathaniel Merchant on “Tudor,” a new musical; and the completion of the first Kyrie of a planned Mass for five-voice choir and soloists.
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