Pianist

The ensemble’s first winter performance is centered around the inspiration composers have found in music from the past. Neo-classical composer Igor Stravinsky’s Circus Polka was commissioned by the Barnum and Bailey circus and written for a performance featuring 50 trained elephants and 50 dancers. Stravinsky’s Concerto for Piano and Wind Instruments, featuring Bienen faculty pianist James Giles, takes its inspiration from the 18th century three-movement form. Giovanni Gabrieli’s timeless Canzon primi toni, showcasing resplendent brass choirs, is followed by Kathryn Salfelder’s Cathedrals, directly influenced by Gabrieli and 16th-century counterpoint. Closing the program is Paul Dooley’s Masks and Machines, which takes inspiration from Stravinsky’s ballet Pulcinella as well as Renaissance-inspired dance performances by Oskar Schlemmer.

EPSG:4326

Symphonic Wind Ensemble

Northwestern University

New England Conservatory's Piano Department invites the public to join NEC students in exploring the challenges and complexities that pianists face in the world today, through presentations and master classes by guest artists and NEC faculty.

Piano Seminar: James Giles

New England Conservatory

Ilya Kaler is the only violinist to have won the Gold Medal at Moscow’s Tchaikovsky Competition, Helsinki’s Sibelius Competition, and Genoa’s Paganini Competition. He has performed with the orchestras of Leningrad and Moscow, the Dresden Philharmonic Orchestra, the Danish Radio Orchestra, and the Berlin Radio Orchestra. Bienen horn professor Adam Unsworth is principal horn of the Ann Arbor Symphony and a member of the New York-based Gil Evans Project big band, which was nominated for two Grammy Awards and won the 2013 Jazz Journalist Association Award for Large Jazz Ensemble of the Year. Bienen piano professor James Giles has given solo recitals throughout the world and commissioned and premiered works by leading composers including William Bolcom, Stephen Hough, Lowell Liebermann, Ned Rorem, and Augusta Read Thomas. Bienen piano professor Christopher Guzman has performed internationally as a chamber musician and soloist, making concert appearances at major international venues including Tokyo’s Suntory Hall, Leipzig’s Gewandhaus, Buenos Aires’s CCK, Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall, and London’s Wigmore Hall.

Bienen Faculty and Guests

James Giles regularly performs in important musical centers in America, Europe, and Asia as a recitalist and chamber musician. He is coordinator of the piano program and director of music performance graduate studies at Northwestern University’s Bienen School of Music, where his studio has featured many prize-winning young artists. Giles performs an eclectic repertoire encompassing solo and chamber music, as well as a variety of commissioned and premiered works. His solo and collaborative recordings can be found on England’s Master Musicians label and Albany Records. He has performed with illustrious ensembles including New York’s Jupiter Symphony, the London Soloists Chamber Orchestra, the Kharkiv Philharmonic, and the Opera Orchestra of New York; tours have included concerts in Shanghai, St. Petersburg, Warsaw, Salt Lake City, and Hamburg, as well as live recitals over public radio in major US cities. As a chamber musician, he has collaborated with members of the National and Chicago Symphony Orchestras and numerous awarded quartets. Giles’s awards include a fellowship grant and the Christel Award from the American Pianists Association, as well as first prizes at the New Orleans International Piano Competition, the Joanna Hodges International Piano Competition, and the Music Teachers National Association Competition.

Pianist

James Giles

Events

Upcoming events

Jan 17, 2027

Bienen Faculty and Guests · Northwestern Bienen School of Music

May 14, 2027

James Giles, piano · Northwestern Bienen School of Music

Past events

Jan 26, 2024

Symphonic Wind Ensemble · Northwestern Bienen School of Music

Nov 3, 2023

Piano Seminar: James Giles · New England Conservatory

Future and recently performed repertoire

Piano in Horn Trio in E-flat Major by Brahms

Northwestern Bienen School of Music

About

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