Aaron Giles
Music
While I have always been a fan of music, it is only since around 2007 that I began to actually get involved in making music. Since then I have worked hard to grow musically in many different directions:
As a Singer. I am an active tenor in the St. Margaret’s Episcopal Church choir, as well as the founding Artistic Director of the Summer Fling Singers. I have sung in the past with the Seattle Bach Choir, the Sacred Music Chorale, and the Vicars of Christ Church Compline Choir. Here is a list of major repertoire I have performed.
As an Instrumentalist. I would currently call myself a beginning (Renaissance) lutenist, and am actively taking lessons to learn more. For many years I played in the St. Margaret’s Episcopal Church handbell choir, though I am currently taking some time off of that. I have in the past studied piano and guitar playing, though I am only beginner level in both.
As a Composer. I have composed several original works, created some choral arrangements, and done a series of orchestrations for the Sacred Music Chorale. Find a complete list over at my Compositions & Arrangements page.
As an Engraver. I enjoy the art of music engraving, primarily using Dorico (preferred) and Sibelius. My engraving work is hosted at asgengraving.com.
As an Administrator. I am currently president of the board of directors and manager of the Summer Fling Singers, and serving my 7th year on the board for the Greater Seattle Choral Consortium. I previously served for 5 years as the General Manager of the Sacred Music Chorale, and 1 year on the board for the Seattle Bach Choir.
As a Student. I studied first-year Music Theory at Bellevue College, and also took a summer course on Gregorian Chant and Renaissance Polyphony from the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, NY.
As a Programmer. Owing to my limited instrumental skills, I created tools to offer rehearsal tracks for learning choral music. Also, much of my web development work is related to music and singing.
All that being said, singing is by far my primary musical endeavor. Below I’ve listed out my choral singing experiences, split up into active projects and past projects. Unless otherwise specified, I’ve participated as a member of the choir in the tenor section.
Active Projects
2016–present: Summer Fling Singers
Project choir that I founded in 2016. Each year, I gather a small ensemble of around 16 voices to learn deep cuts in a different genre and work with a different coach/conductor over a 3 week period in the summer. We hold a short, free concert the weekend before Labor Day weekend.
2007–present: St. Margaret’s Episcopal Church Choir
My spiritual home, and the choir that sucked me in. I’ve had great experiences with three different directors over the years, and found that the week-in-week-out cycle of music has done wonders for my ability to sight read and learn quickly. Shortly after joining, I got the chance to perform Missa Gratulationis, a setting of the Latin mass by John David Gordon, and that experience is what kicked my choral love into overdrive.
Past Projects
2016–2020: Vicars of Christ Church Compline Choir
Each Wednesday evening the Vicars get together for a shared meal, rehearsal, and singing of the Office of Compline. Music ranges from Gregorian chant to Renaissance to modern ATB harmony. Together with director Alan Wheaton, I have produced and released a free service hymnal with over 100 works of chant and harmony.
2015–2019: Seattle Bach Choir
Great choir with challenging repertoire mostly (but not exclusively!) focused on the Baroque period and J.S. Bach in particular. During the summer of 2017, I had the opportunity to tour through the Netherlands, Belgium, and Germany with the group. In 2018, we got the chance to perform Bach’s masterpiece, the Mass in B minor, with a period orchestra. In 2019, we sang Rachmaninoff’s All Night Vigil and recorded a CD, which I did much of the production work for.
2009–2016: Sacred Music Chorale
My first community choir experience. I joined and got involved almost immediately, first as the Librarian, then as the Webmaster, and then finally as the General Manager for the last 5 years of my participation. As manager I took on a lot of tasks: I designed our logo, created programs, arranged ticket sales, did publicity, etc.
As the years went on, we did more work with small chamber orchestras and I had the opportunity to assist in creating arrangements for many of our works. In addition to singing tons of great music, we also got to participate in two huge, multi-choir performances in Benaroya Hall: once for Verdi’s Requiem, and once for Mozart’s Grand Mass in C Minor.
2016: Seattle Wind Symphony’s Star Spangled Spectacular
Fun once-a-year project to offer choral support to the Seattle Wind Symphony for their big 4th of July concert. Thus far, I’ve only been able to participate once, but hope to try it again sometime.
2015: Unnamed barbershop quartet
This was a precursor to the Summer Fling Singers, and my attempt to try something a little different. I found a fellow singer who had some experience, helped pick out some pieces to sing, and found a bass and a tenor to round us out to 4. After doing it weekly for the whole summer, we actually had a couple of pieces sounding pretty good!
2014–2015: Midsummer Music Retreat
A fun week-long camp held on the Whitman College campus in Walla Walla, WA. A great chance to sing some different repertoire and participate in fun elective courses taught by the amazing staff. I got to do it two years in a row, but since the formation of the Summer Fling Singers, it has been hard to get away for a week.
2012: Ballet Bellevue Handel’s Messiah chorus
A funky attempt to choreograph a ballet set to a subset of the Messiah. As a member of the 20-voice chorus, I got to stand on stage with the dancers—my first experience with “blocking.” This was a great opportunity for me to really learn most of the Messiah choruses, and it has gone on to become easily one of my favorite works. Also, my first paying gig. Guess that makes me a pro!
2011: Mozart’s Requiem for 9/11 10th Anniversary
A moving, one-off project to perform Mozart’s amazing Requiem. This was my first chance to tackle a large-scale work with orchestral backing, and only cemented my love of choral music that much more. I have fond memories listening to a recording in the car and belting it out during the preceding summer as I learned it.