Joel Eric Suben (1946 - 2023) was an American composer and conductor known primarily for his recordings of music by contemporary American and European composers. At age 10, Suben began transcribing music from phonograph records. By age 13 he was creating arrangements for local dance bands. During Suben’s final year of high school he auditioned for Louis Krasner at Syracuse University, but declined a scholarship offer from the university in favor of a scholarship to study trumpet at the Eastman School of Music. As a full fellowship doctoral student (1969–1972) at Brandeis University, Suben studied composition and theory under Seymour Shifrin, Arthur Berger, Harold Shapero, and Martin Boykan, and studied musical paleontology with Leo Treitler. In 1983 he joined the music faculty of the College of William & Mary, where he remained until 1992 as director of orchestras.
Joel Suben
Studios
Chapman
Joel Suben worked in the Chapman studio.
Chapman Studio was funded by Mrs. Alice Woodrough Chapman in memory of her husband, composer George Alexander Chapman. Symmetrically massed, the building is stuccoed on the exterior with a natural, unpainted cement. Its unusual half-timbered ornament consists of slender, knotty spruce poles painted a dark green color. A central, peak-roofed entrance porch appears on the north side…