Joseph Michel Berta has been professor of music at Hobart and William Smith Colleges since 1971, teaching music history and private lessons in woodwinds. He has also served as an adjudicator at music festivals for the state of New York since 1972. Prior to his time in New York, he taught at Allan Hancock College, Santa Maria, California, and Prairie View A & M College, Prairie View, Texas. He holds a B.A. in music from the University of California, Santa Barbara, and an M.A. in music from the University of California, Santa Barbara; he also did postgraduate work in Vienna, Austria.

Professor Berta has given many solo clarinet performances throughout the United States and Europe, including solo concertos with the Rochester Philharmonic and Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestras. An author of numerous articles, he has received a Pillsbury Foundation Scholarship Grant as well as two separate research grants from Hobart and William Smith Colleges.

In addition to his work as a musician, Joseph Berta is an active member of the surrounding community, having volunteered in numerous ways, including as president of the Geneva United Way, president of Geneva Growth, and chairman of the Geneva Regional Health System. His honors include being named Citizen of the Year, Geneva, New York, 1992, and Volunteer of the Year, Geneva United Way, 1985.

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