Founding Music Director Joel Lish

For a sampling of tributes that were offered when Joel Lish passed away in 2024, visit this page.  The page now includes the program and a video of Joel's memorial service.

Joel B. Lish (1935-2024) led the Palisades Symphony for over fifty years after founding it in 1966. His work brought an intense, meaningful musical experience to all the instrumentalists who played under his direction. Joel was also a positive influence on far more -- perhaps thousands -- of young people in his capacity as a music teacher in the Los Angeles school district. From time to time we hear from PSO listeners telling us how their lives were changed by their early musical experience with Joel.

Biography of Joel Lish

Joel B. Lish, founder and former Music Director of the Palisades Symphony, was born in 1935 in Brooklyn, N.Y. He moved to California with his family at an early age. His father was a musician, and Joel and his brother were given music lessons. While attending Verdugo Hills High School, Joel wanted to play in a string quartet that was being formed. However, he was one of three violinists wanting to play in that quartet, so Joel was persuaded by a teacher to try the viola. As it turned out, he excelled on the viola, and remained with this instrument for life.

After graduating from high school when he was just sixteen, Joel enrolled in the Los Angeles Conservatory of Music. Later he enlisted in the United States Air Force after being told that he would be able to join the Air Force Symphony. This turned out to be a false promise, but he still made the most of his four years in the Air Force. While stationed in Denver, Joel studied viola and played with a local orchestra. During his last two years in the service he was stationed in Okinawa, Japan. At the request of some of the local musicians he started a small group of string players and taught himself to conduct. He learned years later that this group eventually evolved into the Okinawa Symphony  and that he was considered the founder of that orchestra! The orchestra lists its founding date as 1956, when Joel was just 21.

After his discharge from the Air Force, Joel attended Cal State Northridge, earning a Master’s degree in teaching. He taught music in local junior high schools, first at his own childhood school in East Los Angeles, then at Nobel Junior High in the San Fernando Valley. In 1965 he was invited to teach music at Palisades High School, which had opened only four years earlier. At first he ran everything, including the marching band, but eventually was able to focus on the student orchestra. Finding that he had some very good music students, he started the Palisades Symphony in 1966 in order to provide them with an additional opportunity to play. Joel soon became Chair of the Music Department of the high school, where he remained until he retired from teaching in 1995.

Retirement allowed Joel to devote more time to his other career as a professional violist. He performed casual, strolling, chamber, and orchestral music with many ensembles throughout the Los Angeles area. He especially enjoyed his work with Murray Korda’s “Monseigneur Strings” – a group of musicians who were renowned in the Los Angeles area for playing for high-end society functions attended by presidents and Hollywood royalty. Joel was an expert at hearing the harmony and creating his own inner lines on the viola, weaving in and out of the music as the other string players played the melody. Joel also participated in many studio recordings and films for motion pictures and television.

His teaching and conducting led him to work with performing organizations of all age groups. For several years he conducted the Los Angeles Mandolin Orchestra , with whom he made a recording. He also worked with student groups at the Crossroads School for several years. He loved conducting the Floating Strings, which was a group of musicians, both amateur and professional, who enjoyed the chance to gather in various locations during the summers to read through music for strings.

On top of all these activities, Joel ran a small business, Middle Fiddle Music, that sold his arrangements of classical works for small ensembles - duets, trios and quartets.

PSO members have noticed that when they meet other musicians, very often it turns out that they knew Joel. Indeed, it seems that whenever Joel needed an outstanding concerto soloist, or the occasional harpist or fourth horn player, he always knew to whom he could turn. In other words, Joel was an essential, deeply-connected member of the Los Angeles classical music community. His leadership of the Palisades Symphony stood at the center of his activities.