Anna Weesner Named Dr. Robert Weiss Professor of Music

Anna Weesner, Professor of Music, has been appointed the Dr. Robert Weiss Professor of Music. Weesner is an internationally-renowned composer whose vocal and instrumental works have been performed by such ensembles as Dolce Suono, Winsor Music, the Daedalus Quartet, the Lark Quartet with Romie de-Guise Langlois, Cygnus Ensemble with Tony Arnold, Prism Quartet, and the American Composers Orchestra in Carnegie Hall. A member of the Penn faculty since 1997, Weesner is the recipient of numerous awards and fellowships, including the Virgil Thomson Award for Vocal Music and an Arts and Letters Award from the American Academy of the Arts and Letters, and Guggenheim and Pew fellowships. Her unique composer’s voice has regularly been sought out for commissions, and she has released a solo CD, Small and Mighty Forces, on Albany Records. A second solo CD, My Mother in Love, is forthcoming on Bridge Records. At Penn, Weesner has served as chair and undergraduate chair of the Department of Music, among other roles.

George A. Weiss, W’65, HON’14, endowed this chair in memory of his father, Robert Weiss, who was both a research chemist and a concert pianist. George Weiss is a University of Pennsylvania Trustee Emeritus and an Emeritus Member of the Penn Medicine Board. He is a 1985 recipient of the Alumni Award of Merit, the University’s highest alumni honor. In 2014, he was awarded an honorary doctorate of laws from the University of Pennsylvania. In 2010, he endowed four Penn Integrates Knowledge University Professorships, adding to his extensive philanthropic legacy of support for Penn’s highest priorities.