There, she studied with the concert pianist Cyril Smith and the renowned organist Ralph Downes, and in her second year (1964) won the prestigious St. Albans International Organ Competition.
Weir made her début at the Royal Albert Hall while still a student, as soloist in the Poulenc Organ Concerto, on the opening night of the 1965 season of the Promenade Concerts, and in the same year at the Royal Festival Hall in recital, then the youngest organist to have performed there publicly.
At Messiaen's request, she gave the first UK performance in January 1973 of the Méditations sur le Mystère de la Sainte Trinité at the Royal Festival Hall from a facsimile of the composer's manuscript, given to her after he gave the world premiere in Washington D.C.[3][4] Her series of six weekly recitals in Westminster Cathedral of Messiaen's organ works in 1998, the 90th anniversary of his birth, brought huge audiences, and for her performances she was awarded the Evening Standard Award for Outstanding Solo Performance, the first organist to have been so honoured.
In December 2000, ITV's South Bank Show chronicled her worldwide activities as performer, teacher and recording artist.
[5] Weir performed in her own six-part television series King of Instruments for the BBC in 1989;[1] it drew large audiences in Great Britain.