Justin Dello Joio, born in New York City, is descended from seven generations of composers in the Dello Joio family. He began piano at age 5, studying with Constance Keene and Mieczeslav Munz, began composing at age 6, winning a scholarship to the Juilliard Pre College at age 7. At age 12, he began studying with his first composition teacher, Ellen Taafe Zwilich. He finished his formal training at the Juilliard School, receiving an annual composition award while completing a B.M., M.M., and D.M.A. degrees in composition, studying with Vincent Persichetti, Roger Sessions, and David Diamond.
Dello Joio, currently published by Theodore Presser Co. and G. Schirmer, has composed orchestral, chamber, vocal, opera, and solo works, as well as music for chamber orchestra, and his work has been heard in the US, Europe, Taiwan and Korea. He has been the recipient of numerous awards: three from The American Academy of Arts and Letters, including their Award in Music, a John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship, National Endowment for the Arts, NY State Council on the Arts, Aaron Copland Recording Foundation, NY Foundation for the Arts Fellowship, 2 Meet the Composer grants, The American Music Center CAP award, and the Theodore Presser Foundation. On October 31, 2007, The Classical Recording Foundation awarded him their Composer of the Year Award at Weill /Carnegie Hall.
The world premiere of his one act opera, Blue Mountain, commissioned by Det Norske Blaseensemble, was given on October 8,9,10, 2007, at Kanonhalen in Oslo, Norway, as part of the 2007 Ultima Contemporary Music Festival. The work was recorded and released on Bridge Records, and will be given 25 performances in spring 2011, in the Municipal Opera House in Sao Paolo, Rio, Brasilia, and Curitiba, Brazil.
In March 2007, Bridge Records released a CD recording of several of his works, with pianist, Garrick Ohlsson, performing his Sonata for Piano and Two Concert Etudes; and Music for Piano Trio “The March of Folly”, performed by Ani Kavafian, violin, Carter Brey, cello, and Jeremy Denk, piano. This work will be given its concert premiere by The Lincoln Center Chamber Music Society on November 5, 2009, with the performers who recorded it.
In the 2008 spring season, Mr. Ohlsson included his Sonata for Piano in his spring concert tour, including New York City’s Town Hall and the Kimmel Center in Philadelphia, and he included his Concert Etudes on programs in several cities, including Cleveland and Santa Rosa.
The Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Myung Whun Chung Music Director, and the Boston Symphony Orchestra have co-commissioned Dello Joio to write a Piano Concerto for pianist Garrick Ohlsson, for premiere in Paris March 5, 2011 and in Boston shortly after. He recently completed a commission for a celebratory work, Blue and Gold Music, for brass and organ, commemorating the 300th anniversary of The Trinity School in New York. This work premiered at New York’s Riverside Church by the American Brass Quintet and organist Colin Fowler, on October 4, 2008, and was recorded for inclusion on the upcoming ABQ 50 year anniversary CD, as well as for Bridge Records next volume of Dello Joio’s music.
He recently completed a work for cello and piano, Due Per Due, commissioned by the Barlow Endowment, for the NY Philharmonic Principal Cellist, Carter Brey.
Dello Joio's music has received high praise from music critics:
Gramaphone Magazine September 2007 issue headlined their review, “Exquisite new music that finds four worthy champions” and “Justin Dello Joio: just the right tone of voice… Building like a Mahlerian symphonic movement, the tonal implications blossom in aching beauty…”
International Record Review (July-August 2007 issue) wrote “Dello Joio’s are utterly compelling…The works performed here are intense, full of suffering and Angst. ..’ The Concert Etude entitled Momentum “is a vital and exciting exploration of two musical ideas, which are juxtaposed and combined with huge rhythmic energy and constantly alternating meters, with a fantastic drive and a headlong rush to the very end. ..my impression is that this medium is ideal for Dello Joio: a corpus of works in this style might provide us with an early 21st century alternative to the Ligeti Etudes... This most important release leaves one wanting to hear much more.”
American Record Guide (July August 2007issue) called his Sonata “rigorous and tightly unified, an imposing tautly argued Sonata replete with plenty of lyrical effusion and drama… In short, genuine music- the kind that moves listeners, that matters. I’ll return to this often for Dello Joio’s eloquent and impassioned sonata…”
The San Francisco Chronicle chief music critic wrote of the Bridge Records CD “the clarity and wit of his writing are delightful… The March of Folly is vivid and evocative” and the Sonata for Piano “profusely imaginative”
Cleveland Dealer, 11/06, writes, "Ohlsson devoted most of his recital to classical and Romantic masters, but he didn't preclude the 21st century. Justin Dello Joio, son of late American composer Norman Dello Joio, exerted a distinctive personality in his Two Concert Etudes. The first, "Momentum," is a concise essay of dreamy lines and perpetual motion, while "A Farewell" broods, cascades and soars majestically.”
Piano Quarterly, “marvelously controlled textures, bravura climaxes, melody, tonality and clever craftsmanship”
The Washington Post, Paul Hume, music critic; “wholly original in sound, solidly set in ways that make the finest piano music.”
New Yorker, Nicholas Kenyon, music critic, called his orchestral work, Musica Humana,
“alarmingly competent in its handling of the orchestra, its boisterous open air feeling is communicated with confidence and skill, it is brilliantly accomplished”
Pulitzer Prize and Oscar-winning composer John Corigliano wrote of Dello Joio's music: "Justin Dello Joio is a born composer. A real musician with a sparkling craft who has something urgent to say in his works, and the ability to say it. His recent Trio demonstrates his ability to forge a large shape that is clear and meaningful while providing subtle and remarkable details along the way. Not a note is wasted in Dello Joio's music. It is concise yet expansive, detailed yet unified, intellectual yet dramatic. In an age when so much contemporary composition seems dictated by its technologically sophisticated means, it is wonderful to hear music that is composed completely by ear, mind and heart. His knowledge and mastery give his work a distinction that many other writers lack…he is a wonderful composer whose music has lasting power - A real creative artist!”
Composer Ned Rorem wrote, “Of the hundred composers I know, Justin Dello Joio is perhaps the most natural. He writes what he wants, not what the current market presumably demands. The result is notably opulent and romantic, yet careful and perfectly formed. His music speaks.”
Dello Joio currently serves as Adjunct Faculty Composer-in-Residence in The Department of Music and Performing Arts at New York University’s Steinhardt School, as well as adjunct composition faculty at The New School, and at Columbia Teachers College. He resides with his wife Marianne Bachmann ad their daughter Chiara, in New York City.