Orion Weiss last appeared at the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival in 2021 and brought the house down with a stunning performance of Schubert’s hair-raising Wanderer Fantasy, a work that Schubert himself once abandoned mid-performance before exclaiming: “The devil may play this stuff! I can’t!” Weiss can play this stuff—and to great acclaim, with The New York Times hailing him as a “brilliant pianist” and the Chicago Tribune praising his “head-spinning range of colors.”
That range will be on full display this summer when Weiss brings his virtuosity and showmanship to five programs, including a single-work concert on Saturday, July 26, that features Bach’s Goldberg Variations—a monumental piece that begins with the famous, tender Aria before it wends its way through 30 dazzling variations (based on the Aria’s bass line) and concludes with that same exquisite opening music.
Earlier that week, on Thursday, July 24, Weiss gives a must-see violin-and-piano recital with Paul Huang, whose tone The Washington Post described as “big” and “luscious” and The Strad called “unfailingly attractive, golden, and resonant.” Together, Weiss and Huang play two thrillingly contrasting works—Mozart’s sparkling Sonata in F Major, K. 376, and Prokofiev’s hauntingly intense Sonata in F Minor, Op. 8—plus Arvo Pärt’s minimalist masterpiece Spiegel im Spiegel (Mirror in Mirror). The day before their recital, on Wednesday, July 23, audiences can get a preview (of sorts) when Weiss and Huang play Beethoven’s towering Violin Sonata in C Minor, Op. 30, No. 2.
To round off his 2025 Festival appearances, Weiss joins the Calidore String Quartet—praised by the Los Angeles Times for their “astonishingly life-affirming music-making”—on Sunday, July 27, and Monday, July 28, in performances of Schumann’s exuberant Piano Quintet, and on Wednesday, July 30, he teams up with two acclaimed longtime Festival musicians—violinist Jennifer Frautschi and cellist Felix Fan—for Frank Bridge’s eerie Piano Trio No. 2, considered by many to be the 20th-century English composer’s masterwork.
Orion Weiss was born in Iowa and grew up in Ohio. He was a student in the Cleveland Institute of Music’s Young Artist Program, and he earned his bachelor’s degree at The Juilliard School in New York City. He’s performed with such leading ensembles as the Los Angeles and New York philharmonics; Baltimore, Boston, Chicago, and San Francisco symphony orchestras; and Cleveland and Philadelphia orchestras, among many others. His numerous honors include the Gilmore Young Artist Award and an Avery Fisher Career Grant.
In the 2024–25 season, Weiss gives a recital at London’s Wigmore Hall with violinist James Ehnes, whom he also plays the complete Beethoven Violin Sonatas with in Hong Kong, Seattle, Seoul, and Tokyo and the complete Grieg Violin Sonatas within the composer’s hometown of Bergen, Norway. Weiss also appears on tour with The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, and he tours Japan with violinist Akiko Suwanai in performances of the complete Brahms Violin Sonatas. In December 2024, Weiss released his latest recording, Arc III, which features music by Brahms, Schubert, Debussy, and more.
Subscriptions for the Festival’s 2025 season are on sale now. Explore our 2025 calendar here and our subscription packages here, and contact our Ticket Office at 505-982-1890 or tickets@sfcmf.org to purchase your subscription today. Individual tickets go on sale in February.