Joseph Schlesinger, countertenor, began his musical education playing principal trumpet in the Augustana College Symphony where he completed a Bachelor of Arts in Finance and Asian Studies.

After receiving his Masters in Music from DePaul University, Mr. Schlesinger received a Netherlands-America/Fulbright Fellowship to study Baroque Music at the Royal Conservatory, The Hague.

Mr. Schlesinger’s Baroque repertoire includes J.S.Bach’s Magnificat, Weihnachts Oratorium, B-minor Mass, St. Matthew Passion, St. John Passion, and other cantatas and oratorio composed by Telemann, Schütz, Zelenka, Handel, and John Adams.  On the operatic stage Mr. Schlesinger sang roles ranging from Boris Godunov by Mussorgsky to Judith Weir’s A Night at the Chinese Opera.   In contemporary music Mr. Schlesinger debuted various Dutch contemporary operas, notably Snow White by Micha Hamel, in which he was poisoned and buried on stage.  Upon returning to the United States, Mr. Schlesinger is delighted to have joined Cleveland’s Contrapunctus and Apollo’s Fire, Chicago’s Music of the Baroque, Seattle Pro Musica, and the Madison Bach Musicians.