Leonard Weiss is an Australian conductor and educator. He is the 2024-25 Cybec Assistant Conductor with the

Melbourne Symphony Orchestra The Melbourne Symphony Orchestra (MSO) is an Australian orchestra based in Melbourne. The MSO is resident at Hamer Hall. The MSO has its own choir, the MSO Chorus, following integration with the Melbourne Chorale in 2008. The MSO relies on fun ...

and Artistic Director of the Canberra Sinfonia. He is known as a champion of new Australian music, including conducting the 2022 world premiere of Dulcie Holland's Piano Concertino with pianist Ronan Apcar, and as well as for his regular work as an operatic conductor. In 2025, Weiss was selected as a Tanglewood Conducting Fellow, where he will learn with

Andris Nelsons Andris Nelsons (born 18 November 1978) is a Latvian conductor. He is currently music director of the Boston Symphony Orchestra and ''Gewandhauskapellmeister'' of the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra. He was previously music director of the Lat ...

and make his debut with the

Boston Symphony Orchestra The Boston Symphony Orchestra (BSO) is an American orchestra based in Boston. It is the second-oldest of the five major American symphony orchestras commonly referred to as the "Big Five (orchestras), Big Five". Founded by Henry Lee Higginson in ...

in 2026.

Education

Weiss graduated from the

Australian National University The Australian National University (ANU) is a public university, public research university and member of the Group of Eight (Australian universities), Group of Eight, located in Canberra, the capital of Australia. Its main campus in Acton, A ...

in 2014, citing the influence of teachers Alice Giles and organist, Calvin Bowman. He worked part time as carillonist at the National Carillon. In 2019, Weiss commenced studies with

Marin Alsop Marin Alsop (; born October 16, 1956) is an American conductor. She is the first woman to win the Koussevitzky Prize for conducting and the first conductor to be awarded a MacArthur Fellowship. She is music director laureate of the Baltimor ...

at the

Peabody Conservatory The Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University is a private music and dance conservatory and preparatory school in Baltimore, Maryland. Founded in 1857, it became affiliated with Johns Hopkins in 1977. History Philanthropist and ...

in Baltimore, where he made his opera debut conducting

Kaija Saariaho Kaija Anneli Saariaho (; ; 14 October 1952 – 2 June 2023) was a Finnish composer based in Paris, France. During the course of her career, Saariaho received commissions from the Lincoln Center for the Kronos Quartet and from IRCAM for the En ...

's Emilie. He was also awarded as the Conservatory's Rising Star for 2020, and learned from

Gianandrea Noseda Gianandrea Noseda (born 23 April 1964) is an Italian conductor. He is currently the music director of the National Symphony Orchestra in Washington, D.C.; general music director (''Generalmusikdirektor)'' of Zurich Opera; principal guest condu ...

in masterclasses with the

National Symphony Orchestra The National Symphony Orchestra (NSO) is an American symphony orchestra based in Washington, D.C. Founded in 1930 by cellist Hans Kindler, its principal performing venue is the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. The NSO regularly ...

Career

Prior to studying overseas, Weiss was Music Director of the National Capital Orchestra and conductor of the Canberra Youth Orchestra. He pioneered the CYO50 celebrations including concerts with

The Idea of North The Idea of North are an Australian a cappella vocal ensemble founded in Canberra in 1993, by Nick Begbie (tenor), Meg Corson (alto), Trish Delaney-Brown (soprano) and Andrew Piper (bass). Still active in 2024, but touring less frequently sin ...

and James Morrison, as well as performances with Lucy Sugerman and regular collaborations with the

Canberra Choral Society The Canberra Choral Society (CCS) is an auditioned symphonic choir in Canberra, Australia. The choir is known both for traditional choral repertoire, and new music. A key focus for the choir is an annual "Come and Sing" program, in which up to ...

. As conductor of the ANU Choral Society (SCUNA) he conducted the 2016 Intervarsity Choral Festival. Weiss was formerly the 2022 New Zealand Assistant Conductor in Residence, where he worked with all professional New Zealand orchestras and built a particularly strong relationship with the Auckland Philharmonia, where he returned for engagements in 2023. Before that he held the position of

Baltimore Symphony Orchestra The Baltimore Symphony Orchestra (BSO) is an American symphony orchestra based in Baltimore, Maryland. The Baltimore SO has its principal residence at the Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall, where it performs more than 130 concerts a year. In 2005, ...

's 2020-21 BSO-Peabody Fellow. Weiss has worked with all major Australian Orchestras as part of the Australian Conducting Academy, and also worked with the Sydney Youth Orchestras as the inaugural recipient of the NSW Orchestral (Early Career) Fellowship. In August 2024, he conducted Katy Abott's work: ''Hidden Thoughts II: Return to Sender''.

Awards and honours

A recipient of the 2020 Mr and Mrs Gerald Frank New

Churchill Fellowship Winston Churchill Memorial Trusts (WCMT) are three independent but related living memorials to Sir Winston Churchill, based in the United Kingdom, Australia, and New Zealand. They exist for the purpose of administering Churchill Fellowships, a ...

, in 2023 Weiss studied at the

Tanglewood Music Center The Tanglewood Music Center is an annual summer music academy in Lenox, Massachusetts, United States, in which emerging professional musicians participate in performances, master classes and workshops. The center operates as a part of the Tanglew ...

, the

National Orchestral Institute + Festival National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, ce ...

, and the

Salzburg Festival The Salzburg Festival () is a prominent festival of music and drama established in 1920. It is held each summer, for five weeks starting in late July, in Salzburg, Austria, the birthplace of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Mozart's operas are a focus of ...

. He also studied with

Riccardo Muti Riccardo Muti (; born 28 July 1941) is an Italian conductor. He is current music director of the Orchestra Giovanile Luigi Cherubini. Muti has previously held posts at the Maggio Musicale in Florence, the Philharmonia Orchestra in London, the ...

at the Italian Opera Academy in Tokyo. He received a Churchill Medallion on 21 March 2024 from the Governor-General of Australia. For services to music in the National Capital, Weiss was awarded as the 2016 Young Canberra Citizen of the Year for Youth Arts and Multimedia. He was an ACT Finalist for 2016 Young Australian of the Year.

References

Conductors (music) {{DEFAULTSORT:Weiss, Leonard Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Australian conductors (music) Australian National University alumni