Saxophones, Clarinets, and Flutes

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. His growing body of solo repertoire hones a fascination with simultaneity and the multilimbic capacities of a single wind performer.

Giles is a regular guest performer with top ensembles including the Grammy-winning Experiential Orchestra, Alarm Will Sound, New York City Opera orchestra, as well as the internationally renowned PRISM and Raschér Saxophone Quartets. He has appeared at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, 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, he 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 has given clinics, lectures, and performances on campuses across the nation, including the Juilliard School, Harvard, Princeton, Manhattan School of Music, NYU Steinhardt, 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. 

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Saxophones, Composer

Kyle Landry is a contemporary saxophonist, composer, artist, music educator, and arts administrator. Originally from Detroit, Michigan, Kyle teaches and performs in New York City and is the Program Manager of the 92nd Street Y School of Music. As a chamber musician, Kyle is the tenor chair of the Viridian Saxophone Quartet, which has won numerous awards including prizes at the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition, North American Saxophone Alliance Chamber Music Competition, Coleman Chamber Music Competition, and the MTNA Chamber Music Competition. Kyle earned bachelor’s degrees in music education and music performance from Central Michigan University, and master’s and doctorate degrees in music performance from Michigan State University. Kyle currently attends New York University pursuing a masters in theory and composition. Kyle's primary teachers have been Shelley Washington, Michael Gordon, Robert Honstein, Joseph Lulloff, John Nichol, David Biendenbender, and John Salistion. If you would like to see more of Kyle Landry’s work visit Kyle-Landry.com.

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Saxophonist Zhongyang Ling is currently pursuing a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Classical Saxophone Performance at the Manhattan School of Music.

An active performer in New York City, he has collaborated with organizations including Brooklyn Symphony Orchestra, Cantori New York, Camerata Notturna, and the Manhattan School of Music Symphony Orchestra. He is the winner of the 2019 Setnor School of Music Concerto Competition and the Spring 2021 Fuchs Chamber Music Competition. A dedicated advocate for contemporary music, Zhongyang has premiered more than 30 new works by living composers, including Adolphus Hailstork, Reiko Fueting and J. Mark Stambaugh.

In addition to performing, Zhongyang has presented masterclasses at Syracuse University and has been invited to teach saxophone students through programs at Queens College and 92nd Street Y.

Cello, Composer

Thea Mesirow is a cellist, educator, artist, and collaborator. Most recently she traveled to Los Angeles for the US premiere of a piece by Karen Tanaka, served as cellist and NYC string leader for Japanese Breakfast, premiered new works by CUNY Graduate students, and premiered a piece by Dante Cucurullo for cello and orchestra with the ADCA Symphony where she serves as principal cellist.

An advocate for new music, she was co-executive director and cellist of Quartet121, “a posse of rugged individualists” (New York Music Daily), was the cellist of The Nouveau Classical Project, one half of the “hypnotic and engaging” (Cleveland Classical) Berrow Duo, and the co-creator of the Actualizing Communities Project. Her projects have been funded by Chamber Music America, the Alice M. Ditson Fund, and others. As a soloist and chamber musician, Thea has worked with composers such as Antoine Bueger, Reiko Fueting, and Sofia Gubaidulina, and performed at Radio City Music Hall, Lincoln Center Atrium, and Carnegie Hall, among others. As a composer, writer, and artist she has had works shared in the Los Angeles Times and Rivulet Magazine, and recently presented a new work with PAC-NYC.

She teaches with Youth Orchestra of St. Luke’s, Washington Heights Community Conservatory, and the NYU composition department, alongside holding her own studio. Thea studied with Erika Duke at California Institute of the Arts, has a master’s from Manhattan School of Music where she studied with Fred Sherry, and an Artist Diploma from NYU where she studied with Marion Feldman.

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Violin

An outspoken proponent of experimental sounds and expression, violinist Charlotte Munn-Wood is an improviser, chamber musician, and sought-after educator in New York City and beyond. Her music and visual art explore the textures and timbres of the natural world and of inner psychological environments.

Munn-Wood is a founding member of Du.0 (du-point-oh), a two-violin ensemble specializing in experimental contemporary and noise-based improvised music. Formed with Aimée Niemann in 2015, the duo has forged a path of innovative, inclusive programming in non-traditional venues. The ensemble will release its debut studio album, 3 to 7 Sounds, in summer 2023. Munn-Wood is also a founding member of the Intimate Artistry String Quartet, led by composer Sarah Lydia Anne Banks, whose improvisation is guided by the principle of creative sonic embodiment.

Munn-Wood is passionate about collaborating with new voices in experimental music. She appears in the J. Pavone Ensemble on composer-violist Jessica Pavone’s album Lull (Chaikin Records), and with guitarist Tim Motzer on their duo album Warp/Weft (4k Recordings). Other collaborators include pianist Melinda Faylor, soprano Stephanie Lamprea, saxophonist Thomas Giles, and guitarist-composer Cole Blouin. She is an avid performer of new works, having commissioned and premiered works by Leah Asher, Alex Burtzos, Paul Elwood, Joshua Mastel, Zae Munn, Emily Praetorius, Sid Richardson, Scott Wollschleger, and Icli Zitella, among others.

As an active freelancer in the NYC metro area, Munn-Wood performs regularly with orchestras including the Northeastern Pennsylvania Philharmonic, New England Symphonic Ensemble, Garden State Philharmonic, Manhattan Symphonie, the Curiosity Cabinet, and Richmond County Orchestra. She has appeared internationally in diverse venues, from the Weill Recital Hall and Isaac Stern Auditorium at Carnegie Hall to Roulette Intermedium, the Dimenna Center, National Sawdust, and the BAM Center. Abroad, she has toured Beijing, Tianjin, and Handan with composer Mojiao Wang’s opera Encounter for the Beijing Modern Music Festival. However, her true love is for performing in unusual settings and in out-of-the-way places, expanding the reach of experimental performance to audiences everywhere.

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Composer

Cole Reyes (b. 1998) is a Brooklyn-based composer, educator, conductor, and performer originally from the Chicagoland Area. His music explores the intersection between personal experience and the world beyond through the exploration of timbre, pulse, and harmony.

He has collaborated with artists such as JACK Quartet, the Rhythm Method Quartet, Bergamot Quartet, Juventas New Music Ensemble, BlackBox Ensemble, Del Sol Quartet, Transient Canvas, Hypercube, and Unheard-of//Ensemble among others. His music has been recognized by groups such as ASCAP Morton Gould Young Composer Awards, Institute for Choral Creativity, IL-ACDA, the National Flute Association, San Francisco Choral Artists, and many others. Recent commissions include those from the National Orchestral Institute, Six Degrees Singers, the Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington, D.C., and the Victory Players.

He received his undergraduate degrees from Washington University in St. Louis. While there, he studied with Christopher Stark and LJ White. He holds a master’s degree in Concert Music Composition from New York University where he studied with Robert Honstein, Michael Gordon, and Julia Wolfe. He serves as co-founder of Telos Consort, a professional chamber ensemble based in New York City. He will begin doctoral studies at the University of Michigan in the fall of 2023.

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Piano

Huizi Zhang is an active performer of solo and chamber music in the United States and abroad for her wide-ranging repertoire and adventurous programming spanning more than three centuries. She has appeared as a soloist at National Centre for the Performing Arts, Beijing Concert Hall, Esplanade Performing Art Center in Singapore, National Sawdust, and Carnegie Hall. She has been invited to music festivals as a soloist, collaborative pianist and instructor, including Amalfi Coast Music and Arts Festival, Florida International Piano Festival, New Music on the Point, Biennial Festival of New Music, Atlantic Music Festival, Beijing Modern Music Festival, and Prague Piano Festival. Huizi Zhang’s interest in contemporary classical music has resulted in collaboration with many composers who have dedicated works to her. She has recorded EP and album for podcast, interview, short film and video games.

Huizi Zhang earned doctoral degree in Piano Performance at Florida State University, where she worked with Joel Hastings and David Kalhous. She also studied with Mr. Zhihong Guo and Guangren Zhou at Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing; Logan Skelton, Christopher Harding at University of Michigan in Ann Arbor where she earned master double degree in Piano Performance and Chamber Music. Additional studies and master classes have been with Boris Slutsky, Daniel Shapiro, Gabriel Chodos, Natalya Antonova, and Sergei Babayan.

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