Joseph Murray Banowetz (December 5, 1934 – July 3, 2022) was an American pianist, pedagogue, author, and editor, who taught at the University of North Texas. Banowetz was an expert on the music of the Russian romantic composer Anton Rubinstein.

Banowetz studied first in New York City with Carl Friedberg, a pupil of German composer-pianist Clara Schumann. He continued his studies at the Vienna Akademie für Musik und Darstellende Kunst, where György Sándor, a pupil of Hungarian composer Béla Bartók, was among his teachers. He graduated with a First Prize in piano performance and was later sent by the Austrian government on an extended European concert tour. He also studied with Sándor at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas, where he earned a Bachelor of Music degree.

Banowetz was heard as recitalist and orchestral soloist on five continents, with performances with the St. Petersburg Philharmonic (formerly Leningrad), Moscow State Symphony, Prague and Bratislava Radio Orchestras, Budapest Symphony, New Zealand Symphony (on a twelve-concert national tour), Beijing Central Philharmonic, Barcelona Concert Society Orchestra, and Shanghai Symphony, in addition to several recitals in New Delhi and Mumbai, India.

Banowetz was a National Patron of Delta Omicron, an international professional music fraternity.^{[failed verification]}

Joseph Banowetz was also internationally recognized as an author and editor. His book The Pianist's Guide to Pedaling (Indiana University Press, USA) has been printed in five languages to date and is universally recognized as the authoritative reference on the history and art of piano pedaling. Many of his piano editions have been translated into Chinese, Korean, and Japanese and include:

He had also published editions of music by Chopin, Rubinstein, Schumann, Rachmaninoff and Debussy.

Banowetz served on major piano juries such as the Arthur Rubinstein Master Piano Competition (Israel), the Scottish International Piano Competition (Glasgow), the Belarusian International Piano Competition (Minsk), the Gina Bachauer International Piano Competition (USA), the 2001 World Piano Competition (USA) and the Antonín Dvořák International Piano Competition (Czech Republic). Banowetz was invited to teach and lecture at many schools, including the St. Petersburg Conservatory, the Juilliard in New York City, London's Royal College and Guildhall School of Music and Drama, Artmúsic Escola de Música I Dansa of Barcelona, the Chopin Academy of Warsaw, Hong Kong's Academy for Performing Arts, and the national conservatories of Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou. He concertized in 30 countries worldwide, including performances at festivals in the Czech Republic, Italy, Portugal, Spain, and South Africa.

Students of Joseph Banowetz have been awarded important national and international competition prizes, including first prizes at the Hilton Head International Piano Competition (U.S.), Shreveport Symphony International Piano Competition (U.S.), Missouri Southern International Piano Competition (U.S.), Los Angeles International Liszt Competition, and McMahan International Piano Competition (U.S.). His pupils have also received awards from the Minsk (Belarus) International Piano Competition, the Varna (Bulgaria) International Orchestral Soloist Competition, and the Louisiana International Piano Competition (U.S.). Several of his students have also been recorded on internationally distributed commercial compact disc recordings. His former student Petronel Malan received a Grammy nomination from the Recording Academy (U.S.) for her recording "Transfigured Bach" on the Hänssler Classic label.