Biography

Arthur Weisberg (April 4, 1931 – January 17, 2009) was an American clarinetist, bassoonist, conductor, composer and author. Weisberg was born in New York City. He attended The High School of Music & Art, majoring in bassoon and studying with Simon Kovar, and graduating in 1948.Soon after leaving Juilliard, he found notable success securing the principal chairs with the Houston and Baltimore Symphony Orchestras and second bassoon with the Cleveland Orchestra, before coming back to New York City. After pursuing study of conducting with Jean Morel he again returned to the bassoon as principal for Symphony of the Air as well as bassoonist of the New York Woodwind Quintet for 14 years.In the realm of conducting, he conducted the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, the New York Philharmonic, and the Sjaellands and Aalborg Symphonies of Denmark. Weisberg founded and conducted the Contemporary Chamber Ensemble.

Weisberg also taught extensive, holding posts at the Juilliard School, State University of New York at Stony Brook, Yale School of Music, Manhattan School of Music, and Indiana University's Jacobs School of Music.

He recorded several renderings of 20th-century music, such as from Schoenberg (Pierrot Lunaire, Erwartung), Varèse, Messiaen, and contemporary American composers (e.g., Elliott Carter, Stefan Wolpe, and George Crumb), mostly with the Contemporary Chamber Ensemble, the Orchestra of the 20th Century, and the Ensemble 21. These met with considerable critical acclaim. Weisberg also conducted Charles Schwartz's 1979 jazz symphony Mother ! Mother ! with Clark Terry and Zoot Sims.