The College of Liberal Arts & Sciences joins the School of Music in mourning the untimely death of Mark Weiger, Collegiate Fellow and Professor of Oboe.

School of Music Director Kristin Thelander and Dean Linda Maxson offer the following tribute to Professor Weiger:

Mark Weiger was an extraordinary colleague, musician, and friend. He was a leader among our faculty, energetic in his service to the School of Music, its students, and the profession, positive, supportive, and focused on the quality of our academic and professional environment.

For 20 years, we were privileged to have as our colleague this internationally known virtuoso performer, critically acclaimed recording artist, master teacher, and imaginative leader in the oboe profession. Mark Weiger recruited exceptional young performers to our oboe studio who demonstrated the effectiveness of his teaching and mentoring by winning competitions, entering prestigious graduate programs, and being placed in professional playing positions and college teaching jobs throughout the country. He was a generous teacher, committed to his students as musicians and as human beings, enthusiastic, knowledgeable, patient, and good humored. Active in community outreach, Mark organized the biennial OctOBOEfest, a 3-day workshop for oboe and bassoon teachers, amateurs, and students of all ages.

Mark’s influence and activities as a teacher extended to the woodwind area as a whole, where he developed the chamber music program, revised the graduate curriculum in pedagogy and musical literature, and advised many students outside his own studio.

In 1993 Mark founded “WiZARDS! A Double Reed Consort,” a chamber ensemble of two oboes, English horn, and bassoon. This ensemble toured through much of the United States and performed by invitation at four International Double Reed Society conferences (most recently in Melbourne, Australia). The ensemble commissioned some 30 new works and assembled a library of over 400 compositions and arrangements, released five CDs to great critical acclaim, and were characterized as “the best-known double reed ensemble in the world.”

Mark’s creative work encompassed activities as a soloist, collaborative artist, and orchestral performer; guest artist and clinician; recording artist (with 8 solo CDs to his credit); author and pedagogue. He also edited and arranged a huge number of works for oboe and double reed ensemble, many of which have been published. Such a variety of creative endeavors requires daunting reserves of energy and professional commitment.

Mark served as Associate Director for Instructional Support for the School of Music for eight years. In summer 2008, Mark agreed to serve as Interim Director of the School of Music, not suspecting that historic floods would radically affect his responsibilities. Mark exercised his usual energy, positive attitude, and good humor in organizing the rescue of equipment from Voxman Music Building as the waters rose, securing temporary facilities for the School, helping faculty and graduate students retrieve belongings from VMB, and planning for the successful opening of fall classes.

We all owe Mark Weiger so much, and grieve that this genial, generous man is gone from our midst.