Weil Fellowship in the Arts and Humanities

Established in 1995 in honor of Adolph Weil, the Weil Fellow in the Arts and Humanities is awarded to persons of distinguished achievement in the arts and humanities: writers, artists or renowned scholars in one or more of the liberal arts disciplines.

Weil Fellows may teach classes at both the undergraduate and graduate levels; conduct public lectures, demonstrations, or exhibitions; organize and conduct special seminars; provide individual or small group tutorials; and perform other activities that enhance the liberal arts learning experience.

2009 Weil Fellow

In late March, composer George Tsontakis was installed as the newest Weil Fellow. Following his installation, renowned musicians David Finkel and Wu Han  -- themselves past Weil Fellows -- performed the world premiere of Mirror Image, a new work by Tsontakis, commissioned by the Weil Foundation.

Tsontakis has been the recipient of the two richest prizes awarded in all of classical music - the international Grawemeyer Award in 2005 for his "Second Violin Concerto and the 2007 Ives Living, awarded every three years by the American Academy of Arts and Letters.

Tsontakis has also studied with Roger Sessions at Juilliard and in Rome with Franco Donatoni.

Most of Tsontakis’ music, including 11 major orchestral works and four concertos, has been recorded by Hyperion and Koch, leading to two Grammy nominations for Best Classical Composition.