Joshua Rist is A choral Composer, Conductor, and Educator.

Joshua Rist is a native of Oregon and studied at Oregon State University where he earned his undergraduate and graduate degrees in music education and where he first began his journey as a choral composer. Rist is a three-time winner of OSU’s Kraft Choral Composition Challenge. His music is published through Walton, Colla Voce, earthsongs, and MusicSpoke and has been performed by choirs throughout the world. His compositions have been programmed for All-State and regional honor choirs and have been performed at State, Divisional, and National ACDA and NAfME Conventions.

Rist regularly serves as a guest conductor/educator, leading choir retreats, directing honor choirs, and working as a clinician for choral festivals. He hosts a podcast called “Composition” where he converses with composers on their creative process and their insights on life and music. While living in Eastern Oregon during the first years of his teaching career, Rist founded and directed the Two Rivers Correctional Institution Men’s Chorus in Umatilla, Oregon and founded and directed the Summer Community Choir in Hermiston, Oregon. Rist lives in Salem, Oregon, with his wife, Jess, and their children, Theo and Eleanor.

His extra-musical interests include photography, frisbee, ping pong, chess, gardening, and ecstatic dance.