Orion Weiss - Piano

Pianist Orion Weiss is one of the most sought-after soloists and collaborators in his generation of young American musicians. His deeply felt and exceptionally crafted performances go far beyond his technical mastery and have won him acclaim from audiences, critics and colleagues in a wide range of repertoire and formats. At age 27, he continues to demonstrate his gift for communication across boundaries of style and setting.

The summer of 2008 saw Mr. Weiss perform with the Philadelphia Orchestra, Cleveland Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, and Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Highlights of his 2008-2009 season include performances with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, Pittsburgh Symphony, National Arts Centre Orchestra, and the Detroit Symphony. In spring 2008, he released his debut recording, a recital disc for Yarlung Records including works of Bach, Mozart, Scriabin, and Carter.

In the past three seasons, he has performed with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Baltimore Symphony, New World Symphony, Vancouver Symphony, and in duo summer concerts with the New York Philharmonic at both Lincoln Center and the Bravo! Vail Valley Festival. He has also appeared with the symphony orchestras of San Francisco, Houston, Indianapolis, Kansas City, Phoenix, Rochester, Memphis, Albany, Annapolis, Louisville, and Omaha, as well as the Minnesota Orchestra, Pacific Symphony and Oregon Symphony, among others. He toured the US with the Orchester der Klangverwaltung Munich in October 2007. In 2005, he toured Israel with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Itzhak Perlman.
As a recitalist and chamber musician, Mr. Weiss has appeared across the US at venues and festivals including Lincoln Center, the Ravinia Festival, Sheldon Concert Hall, the Seattle Chamber Music Festival, Chamber Music Northwest, the Bard Music Festival, and the Bridgehampton Chamber Music Festival. He won the 2005 Juilliard William Petschek Award and made his New York recital debut at Alice Tully Hall that April. Also in 2005, he made his European debut in a recital at the Musée du Louvre in Paris. He was a member of the Chamber Music Society Two program of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center from 2002-2004, which included his appearance in the opening concert of the Society’s 2002-03 season at Alice Tully Hall performing Ravel’s La Valse with pianist Shai Wosner. He has also performed at the Amelia Island Chamber Music Festival with cellists Lynn Harrell, Alisa Weilerstein, and Christopher Rex; clarinetist David Shifrin; the Georgian Chamber Players alongside members of the Atlanta Symphony at Spivey Hall; and Itzhak Perlman at Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall in a benefit for the Perlman Music Program.
Mr. Weiss’s impressive list of awards includes the Gilmore Young Artist Award, an Avery Fisher Career Grant, the Gina Bachauer Scholarship at the Juilliard School and the Mieczyslaw Munz Scholarship. He also received first prize honors at the Akron Youth Symphony, Cleveland Philharmonic, Music Academy of the West, Venitia Hall, and Cleveland Institute of Music concerto competitions. He was featured in both the 2004 Musical America and the March 2004 Symphony Magazine as part of the next generation of great artists in classical music.

A native of Lyndhurst, OH, Mr. Weiss attended the Cleveland Institute of Music, where he studied with Paul Schenly. Other teachers include Daniel Shapiro, Sergei Babayan, Kathryn Brown, and Edith Reed. In February of 1999, Mr. Weiss made his Cleveland Orchestra debut performing Liszt’s Piano Concerto No. 1. In March 1999, with less than 24 hours’ notice, Mr. Weiss stepped in to replace André Watts for a performance of Shostakovich’s Piano Concerto No. 2 with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. He was immediately invited to return to the Orchestra for a performance of the Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto in October 1999. In 2004, he graduated from the Juilliard School, where he studied with Emanuel Ax.