Oberlin’s Tim Weiss Wins 2025 Ditson Conductor’s Award
Prestigious honor celebrates contributions to American music; longtime professor joins elite company.
October 29, 2025
Stephanie Manning ’23
Professor of Conducting Tim Weiss, seen here leading Oberlin's Contemporary Music Ensemble in a 2024 performance at Bang on a Can's Long Play Festival in New York, is a tireless advocate of new music.
Photo credit: Fadi Kheir
Professor of Conducting Timothy Weiss has joined an esteemed list of conductors recognized as champions of contemporary American music.
Weiss is the 2025 recipient of the Alice M. Ditson Fund Conductor’s Award, the oldest continuing award honoring conductors for distinguished contributions to American music. Established by Columbia University in 1945, the Ditson Award has been presented to luminaries including Leonard Bernstein, Marin Alsop, John Adams, Christoph von Dohnányi, and Oberlin alumnus Robert Spano ’84.
Augusta Read Thomas, Ditson Fund Committee member and a composer whose work Weiss has frequently programmed at Oberlin, praised Weiss for his “powerful skill and imagination for new possibilities for music.”
Thomas will present the award to Weiss in person on November 1, during the Oberlin Contemporary Music Ensemble’s concert in Warner Concert Hall. He will receive $5,000 and a citation from Columbia University Interim President Claire Shipman.
“I am so honored to receive this prestigious award,” Weiss says. “It has been my great pleasure and passion to give voice to the work of living composers.”
Since 1992, Weiss has directed the Contemporary Music Ensemble and the Oberlin Sinfonietta, maintaining a high level of performance and artistry across both groups. His bold programming for those ensembles—spanning a vast array of contemporary music and including numerous premieres and commissions—earned him an Adventurous Programming Award from the League of American Orchestras in 2002.
I want to express my deepest gratitude to the composers, my colleagues, the generations of Oberlin students, and the ever-curious Oberlin audiences that have been on this decades-long journey with me.” —Tim Weiss
During his Oberlin tenure of more than three decades, Weiss has helped launch the ensembles eighth blackbird—winner of multiple Grammy Awards—and the International Contemporary Ensemble, and has mentored future stars in the contemporary music field. He has led Oberlin students on multiple tours to Carnegie Hall and other renowned venues, and recorded numerous albums featuring CME on the Oberlin Music label, including a trio of releases in 2021: The Oberlin Concertos, Norman | Trigos | Broening, and Hartke | Ogonek | Jones.
“I share this award with the Oberlin community, which has always been the perfect environment for a rich, creative life,” Weiss says. “I want to express my deepest gratitude to the composers, my colleagues, the generations of Oberlin students, and the ever-curious Oberlin audiences that have been on this decades-long journey with me.”
“Tim Weiss has played a defining role in the musical life of our country, and it brings tremendous joy to see him recognized with this richly deserved award,” says Dean of the Conservatory William Quillen. “On a personal note, Tim is an ideal colleague, teacher, and friend, and we could not be prouder or more grateful that he's a member of the Oberlin community.”
In addition to his work at Oberlin, Weiss heads the Aspen Contemporary Ensemble at the Aspen Music Festival and School, and the artist-driven Zohn Collective, for which he is co-director and founder. He is a regular guest of the Arctic Philharmonic Sinfonietta in Norway, where he served as artistic director for six years and received a 2024 Grammy nomination for the album Missy Mazzoli: Dark with Excessive Bright.
Weiss earned a Bachelor of Music in trombone performance and music education from Northwestern University, and went on to earn graduate degrees from the University of Michigan and the Royal Conservatory in Brussels, Belgium.
Stephanie Manning is a freelance writer based in Cleveland. She studied bassoon performance, arts management, and journalism at Oberlin.
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