Guest Saxophone Recital Sept. 20

Date: 9/5/06
Contact: Marc Lebovitz

International saxophonist Thomas Liley will present a guest artist recital at Illinois State University on Tuesday, Sept. 20, in the Center for the Performing Arts Concert Hall. His recital will be at 8 p.m. and tickets are $6 for the general public, $5 for faculty-staff and $4 for students and senior citizens.

Liley, who will perform on both soprano and alto saxophones, will be accompanied by pianist Momoko Gresham. The program will include works by Mozart, Jean Baptiste Singelée, Pedro Iturralde, Frederick Fox, Paul Creston and will close with a medley from George Gershwin's "Porgy and Bess."

Liley has performed throughout the United States and in Canada and Eastern Europe in solo and chamber music recitals and as a soloist with such well-known conductors as Karel Husa, Sir Vivian Dunn, David Gregory and James Barnes. Performances for the Yamaha Corporation and on his recordings for Delta Music and the Educational Music Service have included works written specifically for him by James Barnes, William Davis and Frederick Fox, as well as standard works for saxophone.

He is a charter member of the World Saxophone Congress and is co-author of the highly acclaimed book "The Cambridge Companion to the Saxophone" and author of "A Brief History of the World Saxophone Congress."

As a member of the United States Navy Band in Washington, D.C., Liley toured the country and performed for dignitaries at the White House. He was awarded the degree of Doctor of Music in Saxophone Literature and Performance with Distinction by Indiana University, and has been a professor at the University of Florida and the University of Kansas, and guest professor at Indiana University and the University of Minnesota.

Liley is currently a music professor at Joliet Junior College and a faculty member at the Shell Lake Arts Center in northern Wisconsin.