Ever-interested in cross-culture collaborations, flutist HANNAH WEISS balances performing and researching while actively teaching on the faculty of both Central College in Pella, Iowa and Grand View University in Des Moines. She regularly performs with Miami, Florida’s premiere genre-bending orchestra, the Nu Deco Ensemble and has played alongside artists such as DJ Walshy Fire, reggae master Stephen Marley, world music icon Angelique Kijo, and singer song writer Josh Groban. Her interest in contemporary music took her and Ann Arbor-based new music group Khemia Ensemble on a recent tour of South America’s conservatories where she performed recitals of extended techniques pieces and premiering five commissioned works. Weiss has also performed with the Ann Arbor, Dubuque, Ottumwa, and Quad Cities Symphony Orchestras, and is featured as piccoloist on conductor Kenneth Kiesler’s GRAMMY nominated album, “Milhaud: L’Oresteia d’Eschyle.” 

Weiss is committed to building upon the rich history of her instrument through research which expands the flute repertoire and its pedagogical traditions. Weiss has commissioned nine composers hailing from Asia, South America, and the United States to write for the flute as a solo instrument as an element of unique instrumentations. Notable commissioned works include a solo work for singing flutist, an immersive collaboration between flute and song bowls, and a piece for mixed chamber ensemble with stopwatches. Further developing the flute’s repertoire, she has transcribed a collection of Amy Beach violin works which she premiered last year. In addition to growing the instrument’s repertoire, Weiss is devoted to contributing to flute pedagogy. She recently published her finds from a collaboration with the nation’s finest flute professors in quest to explore the factors that influence teacher word choice.

Born in the Midwest, Weiss has a Bachelor of Music from the University of Iowa and a Master of Music and Specialist in Music Performance from the University of Michigan. She earned a Doctorate of Musical Arts in Flute Performance with emphasis on Arts Presenting at the University of Miami Frost School of Music, where she served as a Henry Mancini Institute Fellow and teaching assistant to former Metropolitan Opera Orchestra principal flutist, Trudy Kane. Her most influential teachers and mentors include Amy Porter, Marianne Gedigian, Michael Haithcock, Nicole Esposito, Gro Sandvik, Sonja Giles, Deanna Little, and Erika McKnight. She loves to run, practice yoga, and cook plant-based recipes.