Finding Your Voice: In Conversation with Dr Trevor Weston
"The reality of what makes innovation is when people say “This is just how I do it and I’m doubling down on expressing myself in the way that I see the world”. And that’s where the risk and where the innovation always come from. […] But that’s the most difficult thing in life – being your true self. "
S1E3 – IN THE COMPANY OF CREATIVES PODCAST
Today, I’m speaking to Dr Trevor Weston.
Trevor is an American composer based in Brooklyn.
His musical education started at the age of ten, when he joined St Thomas Choir in NYC. He went on to learn to play the organ as a teenager, only to realise that he didn’t enjoy performing in public. He was just too shy.
And that was the end of his dream of becoming a professional musician… or so he thought!
While studying Music and History at Tufts, his life took an unexpected turn when the composer TJ Anderson – who taught at his university – approached him after hearing him play the organ. Anderson helped Trevor realise that he didn’t have to be a performer to pursue a career as a musician. He could become a composer.
And that’s just what he did. He enrolled to study Music Composition at the University of California, Berkeley under Olly Wilson, who specialised in the scholarly study of African American music.
And it was during his time there, that he won an award to spend two years in Paris working on his dissertation, and auditing classes at the very prestigious and yet, very mysterious Institute for Research and Coordination in Acoustics/Music, otherwise known as IRCAM – a place with a reputation for pushing the boundaries of experimental music.
Back home in the US, Trevor pursued a career in academia, in parallel to working as a composer.
He’s currently a Professor of Music at Drew University, Madison in New Jersey and teaches in the MAP and pre-college programs at the Juilliard School.
Trevor and I discussed his stellar career as well as his time living in Paris, which is where we met. And I really enjoyed listening to him talk about the strong influence of his teachers, the trappings of originality and how he found his voice.
I hope you’ll enjoy this conversation as much as I did.
Find Trevor's work here as well as some things we discussed:
Ashes by Trevor Weston performed by the Choir of Trinity Wall Street
Juba for String Quartet by Trevor Weston, performed by the American Symphony Orchestra
Miserere Mei by Allegri performed by King's College, Cambridge
I’d love to hear from you. Which topic would you like me to explore next? Email me here.
I wish you all the very best with your creative endeavours!
Charlotte