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The American tenor and music pedagogue, Daniel Weeks, studied at Northwest Whitfield High School in Tunnel Hill, Georgia. He obtained his Bachelor of Music degree in Voice Performance and Church Music from Belmont University in in Nashville, Tennessee (1984-1989); his Master of Music degree in Voice Performance from Florida State University in Tallahassee, Florida (1989-1991); and his DMA (unfinished) in Voice Performance / Choral Conducting from College-Conservatory of Music at the University of Cincinnati (1995-2000). In 1999, he was a National Finalist in the Metropolitan Opera’s National Council Auditions and was also named Young Artist by the National Federation of Music Clubs.
Daniel Weeks maintains a performance career encompassing opera, concert, solo recitals, and recordings. He is praised for his Italianate voice and sensitive musicianship. As a concert artist, he has appeared with such orchestras as the Houston Symphony Orchestra, Dallas Symphony Orchestra, Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, Columbus Symphony, Louisiana Philharmonic, Memphis Symphony, Louisville Orchestra, Huntsville Symphony, South Dakota Symphony, Symphony Silicon Valley, Chattanooga Symphony, Oratorio Society of New York, Bach Festival of Winter Park, Bozeman Symphony, Orchestra of St. Luke's, National Symphony of Mexico, National Symphony of Costa Rica, Orquesta Sinfónica de Xalapa (Mexico), and National Youth Orchestra of Caracas (Venezuela).
On the operatic stage, Daniel Weeks has performed with the Florentine Opera, Cincinnati Opera, Kentucky Opera, Mercury Opera, Nevada Opera, and in 2001 toured the USA in W.A. Mozart's Così fan tutte with San Francisco Opera’s Western Opera Theater. Conductors with whom he has performed include; Steuart Bedford, Christoph Campestrini, Hal France, Stefan Lano, Jane Glover, Christopher Larken, Hans Graf, Gustav Meier, Junkchi Hirokami, Vladimir Spivakov, Alessandro Siciliani, John Keenan, John Rutter, Jorge Mester, Carlos Miguel Prieto, Eduardo Müller, Gregory Vajda, Stefan Sanderling, Delta David Gier, Ari Pelto, Lyndon Woodside, Uriel Segal, Robin Stamper, Mark Gibson, and Joe Mechavich. Stage directors with whom he has worked include; Linda Brovsky, Michael Cavanaugh, Leonard Foglia, David Gately, Casey Stangl, Nicholas Muni, Donald Westwood, and John Davies. In 2009, he was honored by his alma mater, Belmont University, in Nashville, Tennessee, with their Second Annual Encore Alumni Award for excellence in the field of classical music.
In October 1999, Daniel Weeks made his New York Recital Debut with pianist, Donna Loewy on the Judith Raskin Memorial Concert Series. In February 2000, he was the On Wings of Song recitalist with Donna Loewy under the auspices of the Marilyn Horne Foundation. For the next three years, he and Loewy presented recitals and school presentations for the Horne Foundation across the country. Additionally, Weeks has collaborated with such notable pianists as Valerie Trujillo, Timothy Cheek, and Douglas Fisher. Since 2002, he has collaborated with pianist, Naomi Oliphant, giving over 150 performances throughout the USA, Canada, and Europe. These include recitals in Katowice, Poland, Brno, Czech Republic, and an appearance in Toronto, Canada, at the 2007 Collaborative Conference hosted jointly by The Canadian Federation of Music Teachers’ Association, The Music Teachers National Association, and The Royal Conservatory of Music.
During this past season, Daniel Weeks' performances included the World Premiere of Gregory Vajda's opera, Georgia Bottoms: A Modern Opera of the South, Sergei Rachmaninov's The Bells, Dvořák's Stabat Mater, W.A. Mozart's Requiem, L.v. Beethoven's Symphony No. 9, George Frideric Handel's Messiah, Ralph Vaughan Williams' Serenade to Music, Schubert's Mass in E-Flat, and Felix Mendelssohn's Elijah. Upcoming performances include, Gustav Mahler's Das Lied von der Erde, W.A. Mozart's Die Entführung aus dem Serail, and Schubert's Die schöne Müllerin.
Daniel Weeks is also a highly sought-after teacher and master clinician. From 1989 to 1998, he was Instructor of Voice at Centre College; from 1998-2015, he was a member of the faculty (Professor of Voice) at the University of Louisville. In Fall, 2015, he joined the voice faculty (Associate Professor of Voice) in Cincinnati at the College-Conservatory of Music.
In 2009, Daniel Weeks and Naomi Oliphant released their CD entitled: "Women of Firsts": A Recording of Art Songs by Lili Boulanger, Amy Beach, Grażyna Bacewicz, and Vítězslava Kaprálová, (Centaur Records). Critically acclaimed in the USA and Europe, this recording showcases art songs by women who were the first in their respective countries to achieve national and international recognition for composition. He and Oliphant recorded their second CD entitled: "The Lieder of Franz Liszt", which is scheduled to be released with Centaur Records in 2015.
Daniel Weeks is represented by Dispeker Artists Mgt, NYC. |
