Justin Weiss is a Chicago-based composer and conductor whose music has been described as “lush, colorful” (Cleveland Classical) and full of “rustling energy” (Hyde Park Herald). His music explores the perception of time, energy, and transformation through textural play and melodically driven lyricism. Much of Justin’s recent work has been focused on the relationship between visual arts and sound.
Justin’s work has been recognized with a 2024 Charles Ives Scholarship from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the Prix Langage Musical from Les Écoles d’Art Américaines de Fontainebleau, the Walter E. Aschaffenburg Prize for Composition and awards and recognitions from institutions including ASCAP, Society of Composers, Inc., The American Prize, Tribeca New Music, YoungArts, and Encore Wind Ensemble. His recent orchestra piece, Multitudes, was nominated for the 2023 Fondation Prince Pierre de Monaco Musical Contest.
Justin’s music has been performed internationally by ensembles and musicians including Civic Orchestra of Chicago, Cleveland Chamber Symphony, Quatuor Diotima, Grossman Ensemble, TAK Ensemble, ~Nois Saxophone Quartet, Ekmeles Vocal Ensemble, Sandbox Percussion Quartet, Vertixe Sonora, VICE Ensemble, CHROMA Ensemble, Constantinides New Music Ensemble, Oberlin Contemporary Music Ensemble, Encore Wind Ensemble, Colin Currie, Huw Watkins, and Michael Foyle.
In addition to composing, Justin is an avid conductor, particularly in the realm of new music. He is the co-artistic/executive director and conductor for the new Chicago-based contemporary music ensemble, Mycelium New Music. He is also the conductor of the University of Chicago New Music Ensemble and co-director of the Montclair State University New Music Ensemble. He has led performances with VICE Ensemble, Oberlin Sinfonietta and Contemporary Music Ensemble, and soundSCAPE Sinfonietta, and has premiered dozens of new works internationally. Justin studied conducting with Tim Weiss (Oberlin) and Sian Edwards (Royal Academy).
Justin is also active in scholarship of contemporary music, focusing particularly on the perception of silence, stillness, and fragility in contemporary music and the impact that these have on the listening experience. He has presented research conferences including the Music Theory Southeast/South-Central Society for Music Theory, the Research on Contemporary Composition Conference, Manhattan International Composers Conference, and Midwest Graduate Music Consortium.
Justin is currently an Adjunct Professor at Montclair State University and William Paterson University and has taught composition and music theory at the University of Chicago and Brightpoint Community College (Virginia). He was a founding teacher of the Northern Ohio Youth Orchestra’s Young Composer Program, and was a mentor for the Royal Opera House’s Young Composer Mentor Project (London, UK). Justin maintains a studio of composition and theory students both in-person and online.
Justin completed his undergraduate studies at Oberlin Conservatory of Music with a degree in Music Composition and a minor in Music Theory and studied composition with Jesse Jones, Aaron Helgeson, and Lewis Nielson. Justin received a Master’s degree in composition at the Royal Academy of Music in London where he was the recipient of the Dr. Mosco Carner Scholarship and studied with Oliver Knussen, Philip Cashian, and Edmund Finnis. Justin is currently a PhD Candidate in Composition at the University of Chicago where he studies with Augusta Read Thomas.