Joseph Waters
Professor of Music: Composition
Composition Area Coordinator
School of Music and Dance
College of Professional Studies and Fine Arts
SDSU
Bio
Joseph Martin Waters is a composer, librettist, and Professor of Music at San Diego State University, where he serves as Coordinator of Composition. His compositions span rock, jazz, classical and world. He originated SDSU’s MRTAD (Audio) and Global Composition degree programs and mentors undergraduate and graduate composers in project-based, cross-disciplinary creation.
He directs the ensemble Swarmius, is the founder and artistic director of NWEAMO (nweamo.org), and co-founded Network for New Music (Philadelphia) (networkfornewmusic.org).
He composed the 488 note palindrome melody for San Diego’s 25th Street bridge “Crab Carillon” chime rail, the playable public artwork by Roman de Salvo. KPBS Public Media
His bilingual, border-spanning stage work The Magic Hummingbird – El Colibrí Mágico blends mythology, contemporary opera, and dance; it received a fully staged production with Opera Tijuana in 2023 following workshops in New York City and at SDSU.
El Sidd & The Healers is a psychedelic opera set in 1969 that fuses rock, funk and contemporary classical idioms to explore awakening, charisma, and the shadow side of counterculture. It premiered at The Cutting Room (New York City) on May 31, 2025. https://www.healers.love/
Watch tasting reel (3 min.):
3 min. "El Sidd & The Healers"
Waters’ double concerto Surf—for violin and alto saxophone with orchestra—casts the orchestra as the ocean and the soloists as surfers, evoking the sea’s power and mystery. Learn more at surfconcerto.com
Watch (4 min. excerpt):
4 min. "Surf" Double Concerto for Alto Sax & Violin
Performance highlight: Dokkaebi at the Beethoven-Haus (Bonn) — Watch: https://youtu.be/0Cekm0BdjKQ?
His music has been performed across the U.S. and internationally.
Waters holds an MM from the Yale School of Music and a PhD from the University of Oregon.