Seth Josel has been played on NTS shows including OKKYUNG LEE, with Canon For Six Guitars (1998) first played on 6 August 2024.

Seth Josel - originally from New York, now residing in Berlin - has become one of the leading instrumental pioneers of his generation. As a soloist he has concertized in Belgium, Germany, Great Britain, France, Israel, Italy, The Netherlands, Switzerland, the US and Canada. He has performed as a guest with leading orchestras and ensembles of Europe, including the BBC Symphony Orchestra (London), the Southwest German Radio Orchestra, the South German Radio Choir, the DSO Berlin and the Schönberg Ensemble of Amsterdam, and has appeared at several major European festivals including Salzburg Festspiele, Ars Musica, Donaueschingen, The Holland Festival, Munich Biennale and London's South Bank Festival. From 1991 till 2000 he was a permanent member of the Ensemble Musikfabrik NRW, a State-subsidized ensemble devoted to the performance of contemporary music. During recent seasons he has been appearing regularly with KNM Berlin and Ensemble SurPlus Freiburg. He is a founding member of the Catch Electric Guitar Quartet, based in Amsterdam.

As ensemble player and soloist Seth Josel has been involved in the first performances of more than one hundred works. He has collaborated and consulted closely with such composers as Mauricio Kagel, Helmut Lachenmann, Tristan Murail, Phill Niblock, James Tenney and Walter Zimmermann. In addition, he has been highly committed to working with several of the leading young composers of our time, including Peter Ablinger, Richard Barrett, Sidney Corbett, Chaya Czernowin, and Manfred Stahnke, all of whom have written works featuring his talents.

He has recorded for radio stations throughout Europe, and he appears as ensemble/chamber music performer on CDs released by Nonesuch, CPO, Col Legno, Winter & Winter, and HetHut. In 1995 he released his first solo CD on CRI (Composers Recordings, Inc.) featuring works of contemporary American composers. His second solo CD appeared in April 1998 on O.O. Discs, Inc., as well with music of American composers. He recorded Berio’s “Sequenza XI” for the complete “Sequenza” cycle released on Mode Records in 2006. Recently released on Mode was a portrait of Gavin Bryars, in collaboration with Ulrich Krieger.

In addition to concert and recording activities, Josel has published several articles for the Magazine “Soundboard” which deal with issues concerning the guitar and new art music. As well, he is the co-founder of www,sheerpluck.de, a website database dedicated to the contemporary guitar literature. He is a member of the artistic committee for the Triennial in Amsterdam, “OUTPUT Festival”.

After acquiring his Bachelor of Music degree at the Manhattan School of Music Seth Josel enrolled at Yale University and earned the Master of Music, the Master of Musical Arts and the Doctor of Musical Art degrees. His teachers included Manuel Barrueco, Eliot Fisk and harpsichordist Richard Rephann; as well, he has participated in the master classes of Oscar Ghiglia and Andrés Segovia. He is recipient of numerous awards and prizes including a Fulbright-Hays grant from the United States government and the Artists Stipend from the German State of Baden-Württemberg for residency at Schloß Solitude, Stuttgart.