Conductor, violinist, and composer Joseph Kneer currently serves as Associate Professor of Music and Conductor of the Trinity Symphony Orchestra at Trinity University, Conductor of the Campanile Orchestra at Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music, and Music Director of Alamo City Symphony Viva. Under Joseph’s artistic leadership, both Symphony Viva and the Trinity Symphony Orchestra were named finalists in their respective categories for the 2024 American Prize in Orchestral Performance. Winner of the 34th International Conductors Workshop and Competition (Atlanta) as well as recipient of the Audience Choice Award and Third Prize at the 2023 Los Angeles Conducting Competition, Kneer has previously led several orchestras and ensembles, including the Oberlin Chamber Players, the Mercyhurst String Ensemble and Mercyhurst Civic Orchestra, and the Brown Memorial Presbyterian Chancel Choir in Baltimore.
 
At home in concert, ballet, and operatic repertoire, Joseph’s recent conducting engagements and collaborations include Dvořák’s Violin Concerto with Jinjoo Cho, Beethoven’s Choral Fantasy with pianist Carolyn True, Poulenc’s Gloria with the San Antonio Choral Society and his wife, soprano Lydia Beasley, a period production of Dido and Aeneas with Trinity’s Opera Workshop, a mariachi program with the award-winning ensemble Campanas de America, Symphony Viva’s ballet productions of Prokofiev’s Peter and the Wolf and the U.S. premiere of Eloise Gynn’s Little Red Riding Hood with Alamo City Dance Company, and several world premieres, including Roger Zare’s commissioned work Neowise in May 2021. In demand as a guest conductor and competition judge, Joseph leads a full slate of concerts and ballet performances during the 2024-2025 season, including complete productions of The Nutcracker and Coppélia. Conducting mentors include Larry Rachleff, Donald Schleicher, Neil Thomson, Scott Weiss, John Farrer, Howard Williams, Phillip Greenberg, Adrian Gnam, and Gregory Pritchard.
 
Kneer’s compositions include works for voice and piano, choir, and orchestra. His commissioned work “To Hope” for a cappella chorus was premiered by the Menomonie Singers in 2023. Joseph’s orchestral holiday medley A Festival of Carols is available for purchase at Murphy Music Press, and his Rhapsodic Overture for orchestra will be premiered in November of 2024.

Joseph holds a B.M. in Violin Performance from Oberlin Conservatory, an M.M. and D.M.A. in Violin Performance from the Peabody Institute, and an M.M. in Theory Pedagogy, also from Peabody. Joseph’s principal violin teachers include Mary West, Milan Vitek, Herbert Greenberg, and Violaine Melançon.