Joel Chapman

Joel Chapman (he/him) is a New York City-based songwriter, bass-baritone, and conductor. With backgrounds in choral music, accessibility advocacy, musical theater, and comedy, Joel brings fresh spins and improbable ideas to the forefront of his art and leadership.

Joel writes music, even though he once wrote a song called “I Don’t Write Music.” His 2023 album “I’m Sorry It Took So Long“ is available on all streaming platforms. Recent commissions as a composer include a live-streamed audiovisual creation for remote singers called Interdependence (Volti), an electric and earthy score for a 20-minute dance in the 2020 premiere of Charles Mee’s Utopia (RAWDance, Cutting Ball), and six art songs for The Young Activists’ Songbook.

As a music director, singer, and actor, recent credits include The White Rose (developmental workshop, actor and music director, Los Angeles), Path of Miracles (singer, ODC Dance), At War with Ourselves (chorus, Kronos Quartet), A Grand Night for Singing (actor, 42nd Street Moon), Fefu and Her Friends (music consultant, American Conservatory Theater), A Christmas Carol (music director, American Conservatory Theater), and Tinderella (music director/orchestrator, Faultline and Custom Made Theatre).

Though he loves certain pre-existing works that have stood the test of time, Joel’s true passion is in new works development: he sang with the acclaimed new-music ensemble Volti for 11 years, and he is co-creator of Gravity, a New(tonian) Musical, seen in workshops and performances throughout the Bay Area and Los Angeles and a finalist for the 2017 O’Neill National Music Theater Conference in New York City. In addition to singing with Volti, Joel has sung professionally with Clerestory and Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra.



Joel is a graduate of Stanford University, where he received his B.A. in Music with honors with focus in vocal performance and conducting. Joel studied with Gregory Wait, Laura Dahl, and Stephen Sano. Joel later received his M.A. in Music, Science, and Technology from Stanford at the Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics (CCRMA), where he studied digital signal processing, recording technologies, and specialized in sound design.

As an educator, he teaches voice and songwriting privately and has been on faculty at esteemed institutions like San Francisco University High School, the Piedmont East Bay Children’s Choir, and the Sitka Fine Arts Camp. Joel was the music director for the Unitarian Universalists of San Mateo for 7 years.

Joel is an avid Go player, enjoys cats and dogs equally, and loves public transit.