Zoe Weiss

Zoe Tall Weiss is a musicologist and performer on the viola da gamba and Baroque cello. She believes passionately in music’s ability to forge human connections which she explores in both her scholarly and performance work. Zoe's broad and interdisciplinary interests have led to publications on meter in Renaissance music (Music Theory Online), humor and wit in the consort music of John Jenkins (JVdGSA), form and texture in Haydn string quartets (HAYDN), and Boccherini's use of instruments (forthcoming Cambridge Companion to Boccherini). She completed her Ph.D. at Cornell University in 2021 where she wrote a dissertation on musical and material networks in the Elizabethan In Nomine tradition. Current research includes a book project on contemporary cultures of amateur viol playing and collaborative research on music school alumni outcomes. An active performer on the viola da gamba and Baroque cello, Zoe is a founding member of the ensembles LeStrange Viols, Science Ficta, and the Folk Baroque Trio. She has also performed with the Oberlin Consort of Viols, the Smithsonian Consort of Viols, the Folger Consort, and ACRONYM. Zoe serves as the vice president of the Viola da Gamba Society of America as well as an editor for the Journal of the VdGSA. Her recordings with LeStrange Viols and ACRONYM can be heard on the New Focus label, including the album Æternum which emerged from her research into the British Library Add. MS 31390. Science Ficta’s recording of new works by composer Molly Herron, Through Lines, was released by New Amsterdam Records in 2021. In addition to teaching academic classes, Zoe directs the Lamont Consort of Viols and the Lamont Baroque Orchestra.