Biography

Described as “insanely clever” (ClassicFM, United Kingdom), with a “theatrical…ricocheting intensity” (The New York Times), “full of crystalline clarity” (Südkurier, Germany), Thomas Giles performs the music of our time with tireless curiosity, imagination, and an 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, Nicola LeFanu, 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 National Sawdust, Constellation Chicago, the Liu Shiming Art Foundation, 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, Lincoln Center, Roulette Intermedium, 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.

A working chamber musician, 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. He is a regular guest within leading ensembles including 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 PRISM and Raschèr saxophone quartets. From 2012-2022, he was a member of the critically acclaimed MANA Quartet.

Giles has appeared on over 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 Experiential Orchestra’s GRAMMY-nominated album American Counterpoints (2025) and on film scores for What You Left in the Ditch (2024), The Hottest August (2018), 306 Hollywood (2017), and on the New Amsterdam, Bright Shiny Things, New Focus, Mark, Armazi, and Lakeshore Records labels.

A dedicated educator, Giles serves as Artist-Teacher of Saxophone at the Longy School of Music of Bard College in Cambridge, MA. He also teaches at the Aaron Copland School of Music – Queens College and the 92nd Street Y School of Music in Manhattan. He has presented lectures, clinics, and performances at the Juilliard School, New England Conservatory, Harvard, Princeton, Manhattan School of Music, NYU Steinhardt, Frost School of Music at the University of Miami, CUNY Graduate Center, Ithaca College, and UC Davis. He has held residencies at the Arts Academy of Szczecin (Poland), and the Landesgymnasium für Musik in Dresden (Germany).

Thomas Giles is a Yanagisawa Endorsing Artist, a D’Addario Woodwinds Performing Artist, and holds a Doctor of Music degree (2016) from Florida State University.