Joe Meland is a composer, performer, producer, and educator whose genre-evading music has been described as "often elegiac, waiting until its passengers are lulled, then swerving into oncoming traffic ... an antidote to placidity" (A Closer Listen), “twisted in a particular way that is pretty gripping” (Smile Politely), and "hard to compare to anything else out there at the moment" (Third Coast Review). He recently premiered his concerto for rock band, “FAUVE”, at the prestigious Krannert Center for the Performing Arts, for which he won a BMI Student Composer Award. He has also received awards from the Wisconsin School Music Association, the National Federation of Music Clubs, and was a finalist in the ASCAP Morton Gould Young Composers Awards for his electro-acoustic composition “null cycles”.

As an educator, Joe is committed to instilling a lifelong creative spirit within his students, catering to their individual interests while also introducing new and exciting ways to approach music-making. In addition to fostering technical skills, he also emphasizes theory and general musicianship during his lessons. He currently teaches piano and guitar, and has taught as a guest composition instructor at the University of Illinois. He holds a Bachelor's degree in composition from the University of Illinois.