Biography

Described as “breathtaking” (New York Music Daily), “insanely clever” (ClassicFM, United Kingdom), and “full of crystalline clarity” (Südkurier, Germany), Thomas Giles performs the music of our time with tireless curiosity, imagination, and unwavering conviction. To date Giles has premiered more than 250 new works—many of which are dedicated to him. He has enjoyed working closely with many leading composers e.g., Meredith Monk, David Lang, Charles Wuorinen, and the American indie-rock duo Wye Oak. Recent premieres include works by Augusta Read Thomas, Chris Dench, Marc Mellits, Brad Balliett, and Nicola LeFanu. His growing body of solo repertoire hones a fascination with simultaneity and the multilimbic capacities of a single wind performer.

Giles is a founding member of Telos Consort—a flexible new music quintet comprised of two saxophones, violin, cello, and piano. He is a regular guest performer with top ensembles including the Grammy-winning Experiential Orchestra, Alarm Will Sound, London Royal Opera co., New York City Opera orchestra, Opera Parallèle, Contemporaneous, and ensembles Signal, MISE-EN, Échappé, Metropolis, as well as the internationally renowned PRISM and Raschér Saxophone Quartets. He has appeared at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, National Sawdust, Roulette Intermedium, Constellation, SFJAZZ, and abroad at Bachfest Leipzig, Heidelberg Kulturzentrum, Münster Musikhochschule, Szczecin International Saxophone Festival, Utrecht Bartholomeus Gasthuis, and the Citè de la Musique de Strasbourg. In 2022, Giles was a prizewinner at the Walter W. Naumburg International Saxophone Competition, billed as “the largest classical saxophone competition in history.”

A devoted teacher, Giles is Artist-Teacher of Saxophone at the Longy School of Music of Bard College in Cambridge, MA. He is also on faculty at the Aaron Copland School of Music - Queens College and the 92nd Street Y School of Music, in Manhattan. He has given clinics, lectures, and performances on campuses across the nation, including the Juilliard School, Harvard, Princeton, Manhattan School of Music, NYU Steinhardt, University of Miami’s Frost School of Music, the CUNY Graduate Center, the Hartt School, and UC Davis. He has held residencies at the Arts Academy of Szczecin (Poland), Landesgymnasium für Musik in Dresden (Germany), and as orchestral saxophonist for the National Music Festival, 2013-2017. Thomas Giles is a Yanagisawa Endorsing Artist, a D’Addario Woodwinds Performing Artist, and a graduate of the Florida State University (Doctor of Music, 2016).