Joel attended the Baltimore School for the Arts where he spent his freshman year of
high school and then transferred to the Governor's School for the Arts in Norfolk,
Virginia where he graduated with honors in 1993. He attended Virginia
Commonwealth University for two years before joining the United States Army in 1995.
Through a rigorous competitive audition process he was chosen as a member of the
US Army Europe Band and Chorus, stationed in Heidelberg, Germany. In his five
years with the chorus he performed at many well known venues including the Frankfurt
Alter Opera House and had the opportunity to perform for numerous dignitaries
including U.S. President Bill Clinton. After leaving the Army, Joel remained in Germany
where he studied voice under Carola Cribari, Professor of Vocal Studies and
Pedagogy at the Heidelberg School of Music. In 2003 he graced the stage of the
Mannheim National Theater singing in the chorus of Mahler's Symphony Number 8 and
in 2004 he performed with the Music Theater of Heidleberg in the production of
Collateral Damage. He performed at numerous other venues in Germany before
coming back to the States in 2005. Since 2005 he has been on stage at the Muni
Opera Theater, Jacksonville Theater Guild, Hoogland Center for the Arts and the
Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum and performed at the 9th, 10th and 11th Annual
Prairieland Chautauqua. He was awarded the grand prize in The 2008 Talent Among
Us competition sponsored by the Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra and performed "It
Is Enough" from Elijah by Felix Mendelssohn with the Symphony in March, 2008. He
was back on stage with the Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra in December 2008 as a
guest soloist in Handel's Messiah. Joel was the featured baritone as renowned
composer Henry Mallicone conducted his Beatitude Mass in April 2009. Awarded a
full music scholarship, Joel attends MacMurray College and studies voice and piano
under the direction of Professor Terri Benz. He is the Music Director for the
Congregational United Church of Christ in Jacksonville, Illinois as well as the Music and
Arts Education Coordinator for the Imagine Foundation.

Biography
Joel B. Tinsley, Baritone
Photo by Karen Anderson
Photo by Karen Anderson