Oboe
David Weiss, a professor of oboe and woodwind chamber music at the USC Thornton School of Music since 1985, was principal oboist of the Los Angeles Philharmonic for 30 years. His first of many solo performances with the orchestra was in 1962 at age 15. Mr. Weiss also has performed as a soloist at Carnegie Recital Hall, New York's Caramoor Festival, Avery Fisher Hall, and the Kennedy Center. Between 1966 and 1973 he held first-chair positions with the National Symphony, the Pittsburgh Symphony, the Metropolitan Opera National Company, and the West Point Band. Mr. Weiss has recorded numerous symphonic works conducted by Bernstein, Dorati, Giulini, Leinsdorf, Mehta, Previn, and Salonen, and can be heard on the soundtracks for well over 100 motion pictures. Mr. Weiss and his wife, pianist Alpha Hockett Walker (together known as "DnA"), perform recitals regularly in the United States and abroad.
Mr. Weiss, who serves as chairman of the Music Advisory Board of the Young Musicians Foundation, taught for many years at the Henry Mancini Institute and has been a frequent guest teacher at the New England Conservatory, the Manhattan School of Music, Sarasota Music Festival, and International Double Reed Society conferences. (He was recently elected to the society's executive committee.) In addition, he serves as cover conductor for the Los Angeles Doctors Symphony Orchestra.
An internationally recognized master of the musical saw, Mr. Weiss also is an accomplished photographer whose work has been widely published. He served as the official photographer of the Los Angeles Philharmonic for nearly 30 years.
Mr. Weiss comes from a musical family. His brother, Abe, has served as principal bassoon of the Rochester Philharmonic for the past 39 years, and his sister, Dawn, was principal flute of the Oregon Symphony for 25 years. All three siblings began their musical training with piano lessons from their mother, Marcia Weiss, and were students at the Music Academy of the West, each having had the honor of being a soloist at Concerto Night. Mr. Weiss attended the Academy in 1962, 1963, and 1964, and was a recipient of the Maurice Abravanel Director's Award.
He has been a member of the Music Academy faculty since 2002.