Sven Joseph is a fourth-year PhD candidate in the Musicology department at the Eastman School of Music. He holds a B.A. in Music from California State University, Sacramento, where he studied both percussion and piano, and a M.A. in Musicology from Eastman. Sven’s dissertation explores state-sponsored folk ensembles in Communist-era Poland and the ways their circulation shaped contemporary perceptions of Polish identity and life under socialism. In his free time, he likes to go outside (hike, climb, walk) and stay inside (games, food, television).