Sven Joseph is a third-year PhD student in the Musicology department at the Eastman School of Music. He earned a B.A. in Music from California State University, Sacramento, where he studied both percussion and piano. He is an active program notes author, having written for the Sacramento Philharmonic and Opera, the Sacramento Choral Society and Orchestra, and Sinfonia Spirituosa, a baroque period ensemble for which he secured two years of grant-supported programming. Sven’s research interests center on state-sponsored folk ensembles in Stalinist-era Poland and their continued cultural significance throughout the Cold War and after the fall of Polish Communism. He currently serves on the Graduate Musicology Association board. In his free time, he likes to go outside (hike, climb, walk) and stay inside (games, food, screens).