Dan Weeks

A member of the applied voice faculty of the University of Louisville since 1998, Daniel Weeks has become an integral part of the growth of the vocal program at the university while maintaining an active recital, concert and operatic career.  In 1999 Mr. Weeks was both a national finalist in the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, and the winner of the National Federation of Music Clubs Young Artist Competition. As an indication of his artistry and musical sensitivity, Marilyn Horne personally invited him to sing his New York debut recital with her foundation in February, 2000. During the next three years, Mr. Weeks sang recitals across the country for the foundation. As a natural outgrowth of his dedication to teaching, he was very successful in public school presentations which were a part of the Horne Foundation’s recital/residency presentations. In 2002, he filmed a demonstration of a school program which was then used by the foundation for training future singers in the art of relating to school students, as well as preparation for the students before artists visited their schools. His successes with the Horne Foundation and NFMC resulted in recitals and master classes across the country in 13 states. Mr. Weeks remains a passionate advocate for the genre of Art Song in both his recitals and in his vocal literature classes at the University of Louisville.

As an outgrowth of the growing relationship between the University of Louisville School of Music and the Szymanowski Academy of Music in Katowice, Poland, Mr. Weeks and pianist, Naomi Oliphant were featured guest artists of the Academy in April, 2006, as part of their annual vocal festival. In addition to two concerts the duo gave, Mr. Weeks also spent two days giving master classes to the vocal students at the academy.

As a concert artist, Mr. Weeks made his Carnegie Hall debut in 2001with the Oratorio Society of New York in a performance of Bach's Magnificat. He also sang performances of Mendelssohn's Elijah, and Handel's Messiah with the OSNY. In 2004, he sang performances of Beethoven's 9th Symphony at Carnegie Hall with the Orchestra of St. Luke's as part of the education program of the Carnegie Foundation. He has performed with the Houston Symphony (Bruckner Te Deum ), the Dallas Symphony (Beethoven 9th Symphony, at the BravoVail summer festival), the Cincinnati Symphony (Weil's Die Prophetten, and Beethoven 9th Symphony), the Columbus Symphony (Bach Magnificat, Mozart Requiem, Puccini Turandot), the Westchester Philharmonic (Handel Messiah, Orff Carmina Burana), the Chatauqua Symphony (Mozart Requiem), the Louisville Orchestra (Beethoven 9th Symphony, Handel Messiah, Orff Carmina Burana), and the Kentucky Symphony (Berlioz Te Deum), the Brevard Orchestra, with Keith Lockhart (Britten Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings), and the Hilton Head Orchestra (Handel Messiah, Bach Weinachtsoratorium, Britten Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings). Recent concert engagements include Caracas, Venezuela (Beethoven Symphony #9), Sioux City, Iowa (Handel Messiah), Columbus Symphony and Florida Orchestra (Schubert Mass in E-Flat), and the Xalapa Symphony (Haydn’s The Seasons).  This season, he will perform with the Pittsburg Symphony (Messiah), and the National Chorale at Avery Fisher Hall (Beethoven 9 th Symphony).

On the operatic stage, Mr. Weeks has performed with the Cincinnati Opera (Don Basilio in Mozart's Le Nozze di Figaro Fourth Jew in Strauss' Salome, and Howard Boucher in Heggie's Dead Man Walking), Kentucky Opera (Fourth Jew in Strauss' Salome, Triquet in Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin and Normanno in Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor), Florentine Opera of Milwaukee (Flute in Britten's A Midsummer Night's Dream), Austin Lyric Opera (Pong in Puccini's Turandot), and Nevada Opera (Almaviva in Rossini's Il barbiere di Siviglia). In 2001, he toured the United States as Ferrando in Mozart's Cosi fan tutte with San Francisco Opera's Western Opera Theater.  This season, he will appear with Cincinnati opera in the world premiere of Aldolphus Hailstork’s Rise for Freedom, and with Kentucky Opera as Father Confessor in Poulenc’s Dialogues of the Carmelites.

In 2006, Mr. Weeks and pianist, Naomi Oliphant received a women’s studies grant from the University of Louisville to record their recital entitled, Women of Firsts. The lecture recital showcases Art Songs of women composers who were the first in their respective countries to achieve national and international recognition for their compositions. It features songs by Lili Boulanger ( France), Vítězslava Kaprálová ( Czech Republic), Grażyna Bacewicz ( Poland), and Amy Beach ( America). In March, 2007, Mr. Weeks and Ms. Oliphant presented the recital at the March 2007 Music Teachers National Association’s Collaborative Conference in Toronto, Ontario.

Links:
www.dispeker.com
www.tenorweeks.com

Naomi Oliphant, pianist, and Daniel Weeks, tenor, performing for Canadian Veterans of World War II in Veteran's Hall of the Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre in Toronto, Ontario, Canada on February 27, 2012. 

 

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View the YouTube video of Daniel Weeks, tenor and Naomi Oliphant, piano performing Rodolfo's Act I aria from La Boheme by Giacomo Puccini. Encore selection of Trinity Concert Series in New Albany, IN

View the YouTube video of Daniel Weeks, tenor and Naomi Oliphant, piano, performing Faye Burgess' arrangement of the hymn, Jesus Paid It All on the Trinity Concert Series, New Albany, IN. May 20, 2011.

Listen to a recent performance of Naomi Oliphant performing "Auf dem Strom" (On the River) by Schubert with UofL professors Daniel Weeks and Bruce Heim: Excerpt (1.9MB), Complete Version (8.1MB!) 

Listen to Three Browning Songs, Op 44 by Amy Beach with Daniel Weeks, tenor and Naomi Oliphant, piano (seen in the photo to the right):

The Year's at the Spring
Ah, Love, but a day!
I send my heart up to thee!