J. Michael Weiss-Holmes

Dr. J. Michael Weiss-Holmes is a talented solo and chamber musician who “… is one of the rising young saxophone stars in the United States” (Saxophone Journal). Professor Weiss-Holmes’ active playing career has seen him performing at some of the most prestigious venues around the United States, China, Australia, Taiwan, and Europe – notably, recent performances at Carnegie Hall and on three PBS Specials with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, and a recent European Tour with the St. Louis Symphony. Dr. Weiss-Holmes has received international acclaim as an orchestral saxophonist, and has performed as principal saxophonist with numerous orchestras including the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the Cleveland Orchestra, Lyric Opera of Chicago, the Hong Kong Philharmonic, the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, the Peninsula Music Festival Orchestra, the Columbus Symphony Orchestra, the Fort Wayne Philharmonic, the Grant Park Orchestra, Sinfonia da Camera, the Sarasota Orchestra, and the Florida Orchestra. Weiss-Holmes has worked with such renown conductors as Riccardo Muti, Jaap van Zweden, Leonard Slatkin, David Robertson, Michael Tilson Thomas, Stéphane Denève, and Marin Alsop.

Dr. Weiss-Holmes is the Professor of Saxophone at the Bower School of Music and the Arts at Florida Gulf Coast University (FGCU). He was previously on faculty at the University of Illinois, the Chicago College of Performing Arts, the College of Wooster, and the University of Notre Dame. Weiss-Holmes holds a Doctor of Musical Arts (DMA) and Master of Music (MM) in Saxophone Performance and Literature from the University of Illinois where he studied with Professor Debra Richtmeyer, and a Bachelors in Music Education (BME) from Bowling Green State University where he was a student of Dr. John Sampen. He had additional studies with saxophonists Jean-Marie Londeix, Fred Hemke, Claude Delangle, Griffin Campbell, Daniel Kientzy, and Eugene Rousseau. For more information, see: www.michaelweissholmes.com