Photo by Shannon May Powell
Joseph Franklin is a composer and bassist working across contemporary classical, experimental, and sound art. Through collage and collaboration, musical material is recomposted — drifting between notation and improvisation, acoustic and electronic. Central to this is a solo practice developing a distinct language for the contrabass guitar through extended technique, preparation, and instrument design.
His compositions have been performed by ensembles including Curtis Symphony Orchestra, Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra, Ekmeles, New Thread Quartet, Flinders Quartet, Australian Youth Orchestra, and The Music Box Project, alongside collaborations with visual artists, filmmakers and choreographers. In 2022, he composed and performed solo in the contemporary ballet Storm Approaching Wangi and Other Desires. His music is represented by the Australian Music Centre and published by TSO Publishing.
Awards include the George Crumb, Benjamin Franklin, and Mellon Fellowships from the University of Pennsylvania, a 2020 Marten Bequest Scholarship and Art Music Award for 'Excellence in Experimental Music'—where he was also a finalist in 'Performance of the Year (Jazz/Improvisation)'—a 2021 Freedman Jazz Fellowship finalist nomination, and the 2026 Hilda K. Nitzsche Prize in Music, alongside multiple grants from Creative Australia.
Residencies and intensives include Opera Lucca (2026), Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra's Australian Composer's School (2024/25), Darmstadt Ferienkurse (2021), All That We Are (2020), Bundanon Artist Residency (2019), the Australian Art Orchestra Creative Music Intensive (2018), IRCAM Manifeste! (2017), Time of Music Festival (2017), and the Australian Youth Orchestra Summer Music Program (2017).
Franklin has released several albums under his own name, with performances in the United States, Germany, Switzerland, Senegal, Belgium, France, Turkey, and Australia. In 2026, his concerto for piano, percussion and large ensemble, THE HORROR OF THE AVANT-GARDE(S), was released via New Focus Recordings. In 2025, a thousand tiny mutinies (live) was released as a duo performance with electronic musician Ben Carey, a follow-up to his 2024 debut solo contrabass guitar album of the same name — both released via Nice Music.
Franklin holds a Master of Music (Composition) and a Bachelor of Music (First Class Honours) from the University of Melbourne, and is currently undertaking a PhD in Composition at the University of Pennsylvania.
For enquiries or to be added to my mailing list, contact:
hello@josephfranklin.net
Scores available in digital or print can be found at:
Australian Music Centre
TSO Publishing