Weston came to the College of Charleston with an emerging reputation as an accomplished composer.  He is now adding scholarship in African American music and history to his considerable expertise.

Over the past several years Weston has been in the public eye, gaining recognition through the many awards he has earned.  One of his earliest accomplishments was being honored with the George Ladd Prix de Paris award in 1994 which enabled him to study for two years in Paris.  By 1998, a Weston composition titled "Bleue" had earned him praise from the Detroit Free Press.  Piccolo Spoleto featured Weston's work in the 2002 festival.  Weston has also been honored with the Goddard Lieberson "mid career composer of exceptional gifts" fellowship from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. 

This year, Weston's composition "Visions of Glory" was performed  in Carnegie Hall in New York.  When asked about "Visions of Glory" Weston said it was "A nice, kind of humbling experience, I felt fortunate to have such an experience."  Weston was granted permission by the Martin Luther King Jr. Foundation to use parts of a King speech in his piece.  The Carnegie Hall concert was performed  April 4, the day in 1968 when Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated.  Weston's  work  involved the number four, as in King being killed on the fourth day of the fourth month.

Weston's compositions have been heard in Detroit, New York, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Virginia and Charleston; just to name a few.  Music department colleague William Gudger describes Weston's music as, "Very expressive and well crafted."

Aside from his composing work, Weston has also been busy researching the musical significance of Charleston during the development of jazz and African American concert music from 1900-1930. The research for this paper titled, "A Musical Dawn: African American Musicians in Charleston, 1900-1930" was conducted at the college's Avery Research Center for African American History and Culture. Weston presented his research at The Center for Black Music Research. "Doing research allowed me to connect and tie in different aspects of culture in South Carolina," he says.

Weston earned bachelor's degrees in both music and history at Tufts University.  His graduate degree is from the University of California, Berkeley. 

For more about Professor Weston, visit his website at:  http://www.cofc.edu/music/bios/trevor_weston.html