Rob Weir

Rob was born in the small prairie town of Weyburn, Saskatchewan in Canada. He received his early musical training in his home town and later at the Regina Conservatory of Music 70 miles away. After 4 life and musically forming summers at the Banff Center, School of Fine Arts, Rob received a prestigious Canada Council Arts Grant at the age of 17 to continue his studies at the renowned Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia. After his teacher, Bernard Garfield, left Curtis Rob returned to Vancouver, Canada for one year and then on to San Francisco where he worked as a freelance bassoonist in the Bay Area for almost ten years, playing in and with virtually every orchestra in the area during that period. In 1987 he began a series of temporary appointments in the bassoon section of the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra and in 1991, after auditions, was appointed by then Music Director Herbert Blomstedt to the section as a permanent and tenured member. He continues to hold this position today.
Rob has been equally involved in Music Education over the years and considers this to be some of his most valuable work. He has or currently serves on the faculties of the Youth Orchestra of the Americas, The San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra, The Universities of California, Berkeley and Santa Cruz, The San Francisco Conservatory of Music and now San Francisco State University. As a chamber musician, Rob has been very active over the years both with the San Francisco Symphony Chamber Series and The Telluride Chamber Players. He has performed at festivals throughout the United States and Canada as well Europe and the Far East.
Rob lives in San Francisco with his wife, the flutist Barbara Chaffe, and together they have two children. Keziah, 17 is enrolled at Bard College on the banks of the Hudson River in New York and Jacob, 13 at the Sterne School in San Francisco. They share their home with 2 dogs, Elsie and Nico, and a Russian Tortoise named Rose.