Oboe
David Weiss is a professor of oboe and woodwind chamber music at the USC Thornton School of Music, and serves as chairman of the Music Advisory Board of the Young Musicians Foundation.
Recently retired after 30 years as principal oboe of the Los Angeles Philharmonic (1973-2003), he performed the first of dozens of solos with that orchestra in 1962 at age 15. Other solo appearances took place at Carnegie Recital Hall, New York's Caramoor Festival, Avery Fisher Hall, and the Kennedy Center. Between 1965 and 1973 he held first chair positions with the National Symphony, Pittsburgh Symphony, Metropolitan Opera National Company, and the West Point Band.
Mr. Weiss has recorded numerous symphonic works with such conductors as Bernstein, Dorati, Giulini, Leinsdorf, Mehta, Previn, and Salonen. He also has played on the soundtracks for more than 75 motion pictures. For the past 20 years he has conducted and coached numerous wind chamber music ensembles, and in 2006 was a guest conductor for two performances by the Los Angeles Doctors Symphony. Mr. Weiss and his wife, pianist Alpha Hockett Walker (together known as "DnA"), perform recitals regularly in the United States and abroad.
Mr. Weiss also is an internationally recognized master of the musical saw, and has served as the official photographer of the Los Angeles Philharmonic for nearly 30 years. Mr. Weiss comes from a musical family: His brother, Abe, is principal bassoon of the Rochester Philharmonic, 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 soloing at Concerto Night. Mr. Weiss attended the Academy in 1962-64 and was a recipient of the Maurice Abravanel Director's Award.
He has been a member of the Music Academy faculty since 2002.