Born in Philadelphia, Joseph studied music composition at the Philadelphia Musical Academy and Temple University. In 1978 he co-founded The Relache ensemble, which evolved into Relache, Inc., a performance, presenting, producing organization in support of The Relache Ensemble. There, he served as executive-artistic director for twenty-two years. An archive of his tenure with Relache is in The Special Collections Research Center at Temple University. It is also in a new music archive sponsored by Other Minds found at the University of California Santa Cruz. From 2004 to 2010 he served as executive director for Chamber Music Albuquerque. His book, “Settling Scores: A Life in the Margins of American Music” is published by Sunstone Press. He is a co-producer and host of the podcast The Relache Chronicles.