MUSICIAN AND DOG MOM

A musical polymath hailing from the woods of northwest Wisconsin, Heidi Joosten has called Chicago home since 2014. Since then, she has established herself as a reputable music director, composer, orchestrator, arranger, improviser, pianist, vocalist, and harpist.

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Raised by two professional conductors, Heidi has music directed over 100 productions around the country. Most recently, Heidi music directed Alice by Heart for its 2024 Midwest premiere with Kokandy Productions.

“Heidi Joosten’s excellent Musical Direction of her cast, including conducting her gifted offstage band, is polished and pristine.” (Colin Douglas, Chicago Theatre Review)

Heidi has also music directed American Psycho with Kokandy Productions and Assassins with Theo Ubique. She received Joseph Jefferson award nominations for "Best Musical Direction" for both productions, winning the award for her work on Assassins and becoming the second woman in the history of the award to receive the honor (the first at the Non-Equity level). In spring 2025, Heidi will music direct Fun Home with Porchlight Music Theatre.

 

Since 2023, Heidi has been on the conducting team for three films in concert: the national tour of Spider-Man: Into the Spider-verse (associate conductor); “Barbie”: Live in Concert at the Hollywood Bowl (associate conductor, score supervisor, music preparation); and the first national tour of “Avatar: The Last Airbender” in Concert (associate conductor) to rave reviews.

“[Joosten’s] approach to conducting this show was phenomenal. While watching her, it seemed she was able to translate the emotions of the score directly to the audience. …She made sure we felt the intensity of the characters enduring high-stakes situations.” (Natalie Reyna, KCBD)

Heidi also adapted, arranged, and orchestrated the score for the first national tour of “Labyrinth” in Concert. For live theatre, Heidi orchestrated and associate conducted Beauty and the Beast at the Chicago Shakespeare Theater and re-orchestrated Grease for Drury Lane's spring 2023 production. In October 2022, she had the great privilege of music directing and conducting Children of Eden alongside Stephen Schwartz with a cast including Destiny's Child's Michelle Williams, gospel singers David Phelps and Koryn Hawthorne, internet sensation, Sam Tsui, and over 100 other performers from the Chicagoland area. 

She also served as the understudy music director for the 112th Mainstage revue, Don’t Quit Your Daydream, at The Second City.

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An avid lover of works for the stage and screen, Heidi’s music is heavily influenced by romantic opera, contemporary musical theatre, and film and television scores. With over 200 original compositions to her name, she enjoys writing for a multitude of genres, such as vocal, choral, opera, chamber, musical theatre, solo piano, and wind ensemble.

She has received commissions from many of her fellow performer colleagues as well as the Gaudete Brass Quintet, Bach + Beethoven Experience, Inveni Percussion & Trombone Ensemble, Sources Duo, Master Singers of Eau Claire, University of Wisconsin - Eau Claire Wind Symphony, Women’s Concert Chorale, Wind Symphony, Singing Statesmen, Rice Lake Municipal Band, Platteville (WI) School District, Columbus (WI) High School, Beaver Dam (WI) High School, and Lakeland All-Conference Honors Choir. Her award-winning music has been performed across the United States, Canada, Europe, and Australia. 

 

Heidi is passionately committed to the creation of new theatre works in whichever way she can, and she is very excited for the journeys of her current projects, which include: Micro, with Adam Qutaishat (Music Theatre of Madison, workshop June 2023); Saint Hildegard with Davyd Reddyk, Ethan Krupp, and Elizabeth Swanson (Theo Ubique workshop May 2022); Queer Eye: the Musical Parody, with Evan Mills (The Second City, 13-week run in 2022); and The Bone Harp, with Laura Stratford (CreateTheater and SUNY Cortland partnership, TheaterRow festival reading, 2022-Present)

In addition to her work as a composer and music director/arranger, Heidi is an active performer in the greater Chicago area. Heidi has performed all over the greater Midwest with a myriad of regional talent. She premiered 13 of her original works during her debut cabaret Cheaper Than Therapy in August of 2018 at Davenport’s Piano Bar in Chicago, which also featured fifteen Chicago and New York-area artists. She returned to Davenport’s in October 2019 for her follow-up show, Heidi Joosten Ruins The Things You Love, which featured some of Heidi’s favorite (and least favorite) works in the musical theatre repertoire.

Her accomplishments as a vocalist are complemented by her proficiency as a solo pianist; her debut solo piano album Winter Meditations was released in December of 2018 followed up by Distant Meditations in April of 2020 (recorded during the COVID-19 quarantine) Both are available for purchase on Bandcamp. In November 2022, she performed the piano solo of Rhapsody in Blue with the University of Wisconsin - Eau Claire at Barron County Communiversity Ensemble (Michael Joosten, conductor).

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Heidi did what lots of artists did: pivoted hard to audio/video engineering, vaccinated herself as quickly as possible, and got a dog. As the world reopens, she is so grateful to be pursuing all of these musical adventures with her adorable pup, Ruby, by her side.