James Wilding

Title: Professor of Instruction, Area Chair - Academics
Dept/Program: Music - Theory & Composition
Phone: 330/972-8359
Email: wilding@uakron.edu
Website: GH 366

Biography

Praised by the Cape Times as ‘highly original,’ South African composer James Wilding’s mastery of structure and lyricism, and his use of ethnic instruments, folk tunes, connections to art, photography, literature, and stories, capture audiences in the US and abroad. Wilding’s work has been enthusiastically championed in Zimbabwe, Lesotho, Senegal, Germany, Holland, France, Switzerland, Britain, Ireland, Canada, South Africa, and the USA, by such groups as the Akron Symphony Orchestra, the Stow Symphony Orchestra, the New York Middletown Wind Ensemble, the Harburger Orchester Akademie, the TEMPO ensemble, and the Chamber Music Society of Ohio. He has received commissions from Bayerischer Rundfunk, the South African Music Rights Organization, the Tuesday Musical Association, the Orange County School of the Arts, and Piano Spheres. His music is published by Hal Leonard, Afri-piano, Editions Musica Ferrum, the Foundation for the Creative Arts, and the University of South Africa. Performances of his works have been broadcast all over the world, including Bavaria Radio (Fürth), Fine Music Radio (Cape Town), SAFM (Johannesburg), WUOL (Louisville), and KKGO (Los Angeles). Wilding’s works have achieved considerable acclaim. His Etude for solo piano was prescribed for the UNISA-Transnet International Piano Competition. The piano piece, Poem, was prescribed for the Hennie Joubert National Competition in South Africa. He won the Oude Meester Prize for South African composers with a commission for a String Trio, and Potchefstroom University’s Chancellor’s Trust Prize, resulting in slaap klein beminde for soprano and piano trio. A dedicated teacher, committed to sharing his knowledge, Wilding is Professor of Instruction in Composition and Theory at the University of Akron. He studied at the University of Cape Town, Youngstown State University, and Kent State University. His musical mentors were Neil Solomon, Stewart Young, Peter Klatzow, and Thomas Janson.