Timothy Weiss, conductor
American conductor Timothy Weiss was born in Papua New Guinea in 1967 and has gained critical praise for his performances and adventurous programming throughout the United States and abroad. In his 14 years as music director of the Oberlin Contemporary Music Ensemble (CME), he has brought the group to a level of artistry and virtuosity in performance that rivals the finest new music groups. He conducted the CME — the pit orchestra for Oberlin’s American premiere of Lost Highway — to great acclaim. Bernard Holland wrote in the New York Times: “Timothy Weiss’s pit orchestra was terrific.” Joanne Sydney Lessner of Opera News wrote that he “did a fantastic job … the orchestra executed [Olga] Neuwirth’s challenging effects with gusto.” Weiss is also committed to exploring connections within and between pieces in his performances, and he has been the recipient of the Adventurous Programming Award from the American Symphony Orchestra League. His repertoire in contemporary music is extensive, including masterworks, very recent compositions, and an impressive number of premieres and commissions. An active guest conductor, Weiss recently conducted the BBC Scottish Symphony in Glasgow, Scotland, and the International Contemporary Ensemble in New York’s Miller Theatre and San Francisco’s Hertz Hall. He also has conducted the Toledo, Quad City, San Angelo, and Cleveland Chamber symphonies; the Newark-Granville Symphony Orchestra; the Detroit Chamber Winds; the Symphony Orchestra of the Nacional Association de Conciertos in Panama City, Panama; and the ensemble Synergy Vocals at the Almeida Opera Festival in London, England. His collaborations with composers, performers, and choreographers include recent performances with Ursula Oppens, Jennifer Koh ’97, Marilyn Nonken, Harrison Birtwistle, Joan Tower, Tania Leon, Tan Dun, Kevin Volans, James Dillon, Brian Ferneyhough, Lewis Nielson, and John Luther Adams. A committed educator, Weiss is Ruth Strickland Gardner Professor of Music Conducting and Director of the Division of Conducting and Ensembles at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, where he created and mentored the ensemble eighth blackbird. He holds degrees from the Royal Conservatory of Music in Brussels, from Northwestern University, and the University of Michigan. He is represented by Allied Artists, Ltd., London, UK.

The Oberlin Contemporary Music Ensemble
Winner of an award for adventurous programming by the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers and the American Symphony Orchestra League in 2002, Oberlin’s Contemporary Music Ensemble (CME) is perhaps the premiere new music ensemble in higher education in the United States. The CME performs music of all styles and genres, with a repertoire that is as broad as the entirety of contemporary music. In addition to giving first performances of new works by prominent composers, the CME has also premiered works by student, faculty, and alumni composers. Many famous and respected new music performers have been guest soloists with the CME, including Marilyn Nonken, Stephen Drury, Jennifer Koh ’97, Steven Schick, and Ursula Oppens. In May 2005, the CME, under the baton of Timothy Weiss, performed two concerts of works by Sir Harrison Birtwistle, who was in residence at Oberlin. In February 2007, the CME garnered rave reviews as the pit orchestra for Oberlin’s American premiere of Lost Highway, Olga Neuwirth’s opera based on the David Lynch film. “Timothy Weiss’s pit orchestra was terrific,” wrote Bernard Holland in the New York Times. “The performers … were poised and impressive,” wrote Joanne Sydney Lessner in Opera News. “The orchestra executed Neuwirth’s challenging effects with gusto.” Oberlin has long been an undergraduate haven for many nationally acclaimed composers, chamber musicians, and ensembles, and several rising young performers of new music began their careers as members of the CME, including eighth blackbird and the International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE).

Steven Schick
Steven Schick was born in Iowa and raised in a farming family. For the past 30 years he has championed contemporary percussion music as a performer and teacher. He studied at the University of Iowa and received the Soloists Diploma from the Staatliche Hochschule für Musik in Freiburg, Germany. He has commissioned and premiered more than 100 new works for percussion and has performed these pieces in major concert series such as Lincoln Center’s Great Performers and the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s Green Umbrella concerts as well as in international festivals including Warsaw Autumn, the BBC Proms, the Jerusalem Festival, the Holland Festival, the Stockholm International Percussion Event, and the Budapest Spring Festival, among many others. He has recorded many of those works for SONY Classical, Wergo, Point, CRI, Neuma, and Cantaloupe Records. He has been a regular guest lecturer at the Rotterdam Conservatory and the Royal College of Music in London. Schick is Professor of Music at the University of California, San Diego, and Lecturer in Percussion at the Manhattan School of Music. Schick was the percussionist of the Bang on a Can All-Stars of New York City from 1992-2002. From 2000 to 2004, he served as Artistic Director of the Centre International de Percussion de Genève in Geneva, Switzerland. Steven Schick is the founder and Artistic Director of the percussion group, “red fish blue fish.”

The Oberlin Conservatory of Music, founded in 1865 and situated amid the intellectual vitality of Oberlin College since 1867, is the oldest continuously operating conservatory in the United States. The Conservatory is renowned internationally as a professional music school of the highest caliber and has been pronounced a “national treasure” by the Washington Post. Oberlin’s alumni have gone on to achieve illustrious careers in all aspects of the serious music world. Many of them have attained stature as solo performers, composers, and conductors, among them Jennifer Koh, Steven Isserlis, Denyce Graves, Franco Farina, Christopher Robertson, Lisa Saffer, George Walker, Christopher Rouse, David Zinman, and Robert Spano. All of the members of the contemporary sextet eighth blackbird, most of the members of the International Contemporary Ensemble, and many of the members of Apollo’s Fire are Oberlin alumni. In chamber music, the Miró, Pacifica, Juillard, and Fry Street quartets, among other small ensembles, include Oberlin-trained musicians, who also can be found in major orchestras and opera companies throughout the world. For more information about Oberlin, please visit www.oberlin.edu/con.