Recognized as a visionary conductor and creative artist, Joe Miller maintains an active performance schedule. Miller currently serves as Professor of Conducting and Director of Choral Studies at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music (CCM). In addition to his work at CCM, Miller is artistic director of choral activities for the renowned Spoleto Festival USA in Charleston, South Carolina and, since 2016, has served as conductor of the Philadelphia Orchestra Symphonic Choir. In the 2025–26 season, Miller begins his tenure as Music Director of Cincinnati’s Vocal Arts Ensemble.

During the 2024–25 season at CCM, Miller leads the CCM Chamber Choir in tour performances of Bach’s Singet dem Herrn and he prepares the chorus for Mahler’s Resurrection Symphony No. 2 (Mark Gibson), Brahms’ Ein deutsches Requiem (Brett Scott) and a residency with renowned Latvian composer Ēriks Ešenvalds. With the Philadelphia Orchestra Symphonic Choir, repertoire this season includes Mahler’s Symphony No. 3 (Yannick Nézet-Séguin), Verdi’s Requiem Mass (Riccardo Muti) and Handel’s Messiah (Yannick Nézet-Séguin). Miller will close the 2024–25 season with new works and projects for the Spoleto Festival USA.

The soundtrack (Deutsche Grammophon) to the 2023 film Maestro, a biographical romantic drama about the relationship between famed composer and conductor Leonard Bernstein and his wife, Felicia Montealegre, features the Philadelphia Symphonic Choir, prepared by Miller, singing the iconic “Make Our Garden Grow” from Bernstein’s Candide.

Miller made his conducting debut with The Philadelphia Orchestra in 2021 conducting Handel’s Messiah. Recent collaborations with Yannick Nézet-Séguin and The Philadelphia Orchestra have included premiere performances of Kevin Puts’ The Hours with Renée Fleming, Kelli O’Hara and Jennifer Johnson Cano. The 2024 Philadelphia Symphonic Choir’s performances in Carnegie Hall and at Marian Anderson Hall celebrated Nathalie Stutzmann’s long collaboration as principal guest conductor of The Philadelphia Orchestra.

From 2006 to 2020, Miller served as Professor of Conducting and director of choral activities at Westminster Choir College of Rider University. In 2019, Miller led the Westminster Choir in a staged performance of Joby Talbot’s demanding Path of Miracles at the 2019 Spoleto Festival USA, after which D.C. Theatre Scene wrote, “Joe Miller is a fearless artist. His bold leadership and trust in these young singers enabled his choristers to forego the ‘stand and deliver,’ score-bound habits of their genre and ‘walk with him’ on this special journey. Not only did the singers need to memorize their parts, no mean feat, but follow his baton’s bid from any part of the auditorium and sing in any body position. Miller constantly challenged them in the process and inspired them to work confidently, well outside their comfort zone.”

Miller’s ensembles have performed throughout the world, giving concert tours in Italy, Germany, Austria, France, England and China, and in Spain for the World Symposium on Choral Music in Barcelona. His choirs have toured extensively throughout the United States for the American Choral Directors Association national and regional conferences, including groundbreaking performances of Julia Wolfe’s Pulitzer Prize-winning Anthracite Fields at the historic Roebling Wire Works as part of Westminster’s Transforming Space project.

Miller has been praised for his recordings. American Record Guide wrote about Frank Martin: Mass for Double Choir, “This is gorgeous singing…with perfect blend, intonation, diction, ensemble and musicality.” The Heart’s Reflection: Music of Daniel Elder was hailed by Minnesota Public Radio’s Classical Notes as “simply astounding.” Miller’s debut recording with the Westminster Choir, Flower of Beauty, received four stars from Choir & Organ magazine and earned critical praise from American Record Guide, which described the Westminster Choir as “the gold standard for academic choirs in America.”

Miller has collaborated with some of the world’s leading orchestras and conductors, earning critical praise. After a performance of Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 with The Cleveland Orchestra, The New York Times wrote, “Joe Miller’s Westminster Symphonic Choir was subtle when asked and powerful when turned loose.” Recent seasons have included performances with the Berlin Philharmonic and Sir Simon Rattle, The Philadelphia Orchestra and Yannick Nézet-Séguin and the Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra of Venezuela and Gustavo Dudamel.

Faculty appointments in addition to Westminster Choir College have included Western Michigan University and California State University, Stanislaus. Miller received his DMA in Choral Conducting with a cognate in Voice from CCM in 1997. He received his MM in Choral Conducting from CCM in 1992. In 1987, he graduated cum laude from the University of Tennessee with a BS in Music Education and Voice.