Weston Sprott

Weston Sprott is a prominent thought leader, administrator, performer, and educator in classical music. He is Dean and Director of the Preparatory Division at the Juilliard School, leading the Pre-College and the Music Advancement Program (MAP), and a trombonist in the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra.

Sprott is a champion of diversity and inclusion efforts in classical music. His commitment to inclusion in classical music contributed to the creation of the Black Orchestral Network, the National Alliance for Audition Support, Sphinx Orchestral Partners Auditions Excerpt Competition, and Classical Tahoe Academy, as well as numerous other initiatives that are shifting the landscape of the industry. He is a recipient of the Sphinx Medal of Excellence, the Sphinx Venture Fund, the Atlanta Symphony’s Aspire Award, and Community Music Center of Boston’s John Kleshinski Award. He has contributed as a speaker, writer, and consultant for various organizations, conferences, universities, and publications.

As a performer, Sprott enjoys an exciting career that includes orchestral, chamber, and solo performances. Beyond his position at the Metropolitan Opera, he has performed with several of the world's leading orchestras and music festivals, been a featured soloist throughout the United States, Europe, South Africa, and Asia, and been recognized as “an excellent trombonist” with a “sense of style and phrasing [that] takes a backseat to no one.” Sprott appears frequently with the Philadelphia Orchestra, held positions with the Zurich Opera/Philharmonia, Pennsylvania Ballet, Delaware Symphony, and has played with numerous other major orchestras, including the New York Philharmonic, Sphinx Symphony, Chineke! Orchestra, Dallas Symphony, Atlanta Symphony, and Oslo Philharmonic. His chamber music and festival engagements include the Stellenbosch International Chamber Music Festival (SICMF), Classical Tahoe, Festival Napa Valley, Walla Chamber Music Festival, PRIZM Ensemble, and numerous others. He has been featured as a soloist and chamber musician at Carnegie Hall, Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Library of Congress, 92nd St Y, and has performed on numerous solo, chamber, orchestral, operatic, and film recordings. An artist/clinician for the Antoine Courtois Instrument Company, he designed and performs exclusively on their Creation New York trombone.

As an educator, Sprott holds faculty positions at The Juilliard School, Bard College Conservatory of Music, Music Academy of the West, Aspen Music Festival and School, and SICMF. He frequently appears as a guest teacher for the New World Symphony and The Orchestra Now and has presented over a hundred masterclasses at conservatories and colleges around the world. He appeared in Ben Niles’ documentary film Some Kind of Spark, which highlights the impact of music education in the lives of students as they attend Juilliard’s MAP. Sprott previously held faculty positions at Mannes College, Rutgers University, Purchase College, Juilliard’s MAP, PRIZM, Curtis Institute of Music’s Young Artist Summer Program, National Youth Orchestra-USA (NYO-USA), and NYO2.

Sprott is the Board Chair of the Friends of SICMF, a member of the Bronx Arts Ensemble’s Artistic Advisory Board, and a member of the Avery Fisher Artist Program's Recommendation Board.