Biography

Described as “insanely clever” (ClassicFM, United Kingdom), “full of crystalline clarity” (Südkurier, Germany) and possessing a “theatrical…ricocheting intensity” (The New York Times), 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. Recent premieres include works by Chris Dench, Augusta Read Thomas, Marc Mellits, and choreographer Kyle Abraham. His growing body of solo repertoire hones a fascination with simultaneity and the multilimbic potentials of a single wind performer.

A prizewinner of the prestigious Walter W. Naumburg International Saxophone Competition, Giles has been presented as a soloist at Lincoln Center, National Sawdust, Constellation Chicago, and in concerto performances with the National Music Festival Orchestra, Present Music, Tilted Head Ensemble, Brooklyn Symphony Orchestra, and many university bands and orchestras across the United States. He has performed at Carnegie Hall, Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, SFJAZZ, and internationally at Bachfest Leipzig, Heidelberg Kulturzentrum, Münster Musikhochschule, Szczecin International Saxophone Festival, Utrecht’s Bartholomeus Gasthuis, and the Cité de la Musique de Strasbourg.

Giles is a founding member of Telos Consort—a flexible new music quintet of two saxophones, violin, cello, and piano. The ensemble’s modular concept frequently calls on his adroit skills playing all saxophones, flutes, and clarinets. He has appeared in over a dozen productions across theater, opera, and dance, including Fiddler on the Roof in Yiddish, La Belle et la Bête, and on tour with the A.I.M. by Kyle Abraham dance company. A regular guest within leading ensembles, he has appeared with Alarm Will Sound, London Royal Opera co., New York City Opera Orchestra, Opera Parallèle, Contemporaneous, ensembles Signal, MISE-EN, Échappé, Metropolis, as well as the PRISM and Raschèr saxophone quartets. From 2012-2022, he was a member of the critically acclaimed MANA Quartet.

Giles has appeared on more than a dozen studio recordings. His first lead release with pianist Liana Pailodze Harron, Mysteries of the Macabre (2022), featured “breathtaking” (New York Music Daily) first recordings of works by Ligeti, Messiaen, Asiya Korepanova, and Jay Schwartz. His second album, Mundiglossia (2023), spotlights Cole Blouin’s gargantuan “obstacle course” work for solo soprano saxophone—praised for its “unflinching exactitude” (Best Contemporary Classical, Bandcamp). As a sideman, he can be heard on the New Amsterdam, Bright Shiny Things, New Focus, Mark, Armazi, Lakeshore Records labels, including the Experiential Orchestra’s GRAMMY-nominated album American Counterpoints (2025).

A dedicated educator, Giles serves as Artist-Teacher of Saxophone at the Longy School of Music of Bard College in Cambridge, MA. He has presented lectures, clinics, and performances at the Juilliard School, New England Conservatory, Harvard, Princeton, Manhattan School of Music, NYU Steinhardt, and others. He has held residencies at the Arts Academy of Szczecin (Poland), and the Landesgymnasium für Musik in Dresden (Germany).

Thomas Giles is an endorsing artist for Yanagisawa Saxophones, D’Addario Woodwinds products, and holds a Doctor of Music degree (2016) from Florida State University.