ABOUT WILLIAM WEIGEL
I am a composer--and erstwhile trumpet player--living in Brooklyn, New York. My compositions include a variety of chamber music works, vocal and liturgical scores and a short operetta. My principal teachers were Harold Seletsky and Berge Kalajian, who trace their musical lineage through Josef Schmid to Alban Berg and Arnold Schönberg.
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I have been fortunate to have my music performed by some wonderful musicians, including Brandt Fredriksen, Eric Silberger, Bettina von Hindte, OneMusic Trio, Herwig Zack, Judith Mendenhall, Brandon Ridenour, Jessica Lee and Ismar Gomes and Wan Chi Su. My works have been played in various venues in Europe, in New York City, around the east coast and in the midwest. In 2018 my song cycle based upon Wallace Stevens poems received a very successful premiere performance at Carnegie Hall. In 2024 my setting of Rilke poems was performed at the Regentbau in Bad Kissingen, Germany.
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Recent works include a third piano trio and a new piece for violin and piano, to be premiered by Eric Silberger in July, 2026 at Oji Hall in Ginza, Tokyo.
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​I supported myself for many years as a practicing lawyer in New York City. Having another profession has sometimes made it difficult to focus completely on music. I believe, however, that working in an intense intellectual environment with highly talented colleagues has greatly broadened my perspective. And I take some encouragement from the lives of great artists who have managed dual careers, Alexander Borodin, Charles Ives and Wallace Stevens among them.
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I am interested in harmonic sophistication, and my work often is based upon a 12-tone row. I generally do not employ that row, however, in a severely atonal style reminiscent of the Viennese school of Schönberg, Webern et al. Instead, I tend to look for diatonic resonances within the 12-tone row. Coherence of musical drama is important to me, and hence my music includes much regular rhythm and many recognizably repeated melodies. Music is a public art, and putting all of this together, my hope is always that my music is unique and interesting, but also accessible to non-specialists. At best it should speak both to the head and the heart.
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