Originally from eastern Pennsylvania, USA, Mark Lanz Weiser, born in 1968, holds degrees in composition and piano performance from the Peabody Conservatory of the Johns Hopkins University. Weiser discovered a passion for composing while taking music theory courses at Peabody and began writing seriously by his junior year. At that time Weiser composed a song cycle using poetry of Wilfred Owen and then a one-act opera after a play by William Butler Yeats. These two projects revealed an affinity for the combination of music and drama that would define his future compositions.
Weiser is the recipient of many awards and honors including first prize in the National Association of Teachers of Singing National Art Song competition, residencies at the Yaddo colony in New York and the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, and most recently the 35th annual ASCAP Foundation Rudolf Nissim Prize for his second symphony subtitled Sinfonia Magalhães (Magellan Symphony), awarded in January 2015. His music has been performed internationally by major orchestras, ensembles and soloists. He is currently on the composition faculty of the University of Southern California’s Thornton School of Music.
