Michael Weiss is a saxophonist and woodwind specialist working out of Tucson, Arizona. He has been playing saxophone since 1999 and has experience performing in jazz, classical, salsa, and rock styles.
From a young age, Michael has been fascinated by improvised music. In high school, he earned opportunities to play with the IMEA and Midwest Young Artists big bands. While at university, he had diverse and rich musical experiences. He performed with jazz greats such as Michael Davis, Rufus Reid and Bobby Shew. Michael also had the privilege to premiere ensemble works such as David Maslanka’s 9th Symphony. He performed with the Tucson Symphony Orchestra as part of their Live and Let Die and Pixar in Concert productions. Michael has studied with saxophonists Greg Fishman, Ben Schachter and Brice Winston.
Michael is an experienced woodwind doubler, performing in 24 productions with 10 theater companies. In 2017, he shared the stage with Bernadette Peters as part of her Not A Day Goes By tour. For a full list of shows and instrumentation, see Michael’s Musical Theater Experience.
His collaboration with percussionist Elizabeth Soflin in the Weiss/Soflin Duo was a celebration of new, experimental music. From 2013 to 2020, the Duo commissioned new compositions and arrangements for saxophone and percussion while performing in opera houses, art exhibitions, and universities. The most recent commissions included Easter In Bingham by Stuart Saunders Smith and Profiled From Atmospheres by Matthew Burtner, which were showcased at the Oh My Ears festival in February 2019.
Michael currently works out of Tucson, Arizona, performing and recording locally with various bands and pit orchestras. Michael earned his saxophone performance degree at the University of Arizona under the instruction of Dr. Kelland Thomas.