Van Hassel is one of several UNCP music faculty who shared their time to reach out to GPAC audiences during the pandemic. He performed three pieces for GPAC, “Bagr Bine” for West African Gyil, as taught by Bernard Woma, “Be Thou My Vision” for solo tenor pan, arranged by Chad Floyd, and “Amazing Grace” for solo tenor pan, arranged by Chad Floyd.

A North Carolina-based percussionist, Van Hassel specializes in orchestral and chamber music. He has performed at the Carnegie Hall, the Cincinnati MusicNow Festival, the Percussive Arts Society International Convention, the International Tuba Euphonium Conference, and the Hindemith Center in Switzerland. A versatile artist in many genres, he has worked with numerous composers, including Steve Reich, Peter Garland, Joseph Schwantner, William Bolcom, Jennifer Higdon, Elliot Cole, and John Corigliano.

He is published in Percussive Notes, and his compositions are published by Media Press Music, in which he is a co-owner, and PerMus. Van Hassel has individually commissioned and premiered works, and he can be heard on recordings for the Innova, Mode, Equilibrium, nobrow.sounds, and Ohio Percussion record labels. His solo CD of percussion commissions is available on Soundset Recordings.

A graduate of the Hartt School, the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, and Ohio University, he also spent time studying music and dance in Ghana, West Africa. Van Hassel has presented master classes and solo performances at numerous universities throughout the U.S, including the Manhattan School of Music, Peabody Conservatory, and the Center for New Music and Audio Technologies at the University of California at Berkeley. He teaches percussion at UNCP, and has also taught at Ohio University and Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp.

For more information please visit his website: josephvanhassel.com