'Recognized by Leonard Slatkin as one of a new generation of 'gifted American conductors', Jason Weinberger is currently music director of the Waterloo-Cedar Falls Symphony Orchestra in Iowa and associate conductor of the Louisville Orchestra.
'Since joining the Waterloo-Cedar Falls Symphony as its music director five years ago Jason has made a mark in Iowa with exceptionally committed performances, bold and creative programming, and extensive community engagement. Under Jason's leadership the orchestra has taken major artistic strides, performing a variety of new and recent American music and hosting such guest artists as Yo-Yo Ma, David Shifrin, Peter Schickele, and Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg. The WCFSO has also expanded its reach significantly in the past several seasons, increasing the range of its concert offerings and successfully self-producing an array of family and educational concerts. Off the stage Jason has become a leading advocate for music throughout the Cedar Valley, and as part of that effort he spearheads the programming and presentation of the WCFSO's wide-ranging educational and outreach initiatives. [read more]
In addition to his work in Iowa Jason continues to develop a national profile. In 2007 he was named associate conductor of the Louisville Orchestra on the strength of his educational and community engagement work. Jason has already made a mark in Louisville with a bilingual approach to his Latin America student performances and a stirring program for the orchestra’s MLK celebration.
'Jason began his professional career as a cover conductor with the National Symphony Orchestra, and he has performed with the NSO several times in addition to leading the Kennedy Center/National Symphony Orchestra Summer Music Institute. In recent seasons Jason has also performed as guest conductor with the orchestras of Kansas City, Memphis and Daejeon (Korea). While in the mid-Atlantic region Jason directed the orchestra program at the Baltimore School for the Arts, where he founded an adventurous chamber orchestra and conceived and led a number of new initiatives for teaching and presenting music to urban youth.
'Jason is a native of Los Angeles and began his musical training there on both piano and clarinet, pursuing studies on the latter instrument with Yehuda Gilad at the Colburn School for the Performing Arts. Beginning in 1992 he attended Yale University, first receiving a bachelor's with academic distinction in intellectual history and then completing a master's degree in clarinet performance under the tutelage of David Shifrin. After leaving Yale Jason attended the Peabody Conservatory as a master's student of Gustav Meier and was a recipient of the Graduate Conducting Fellowship and a Peabody Career Grant.'
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