About Me
Miles Andrew Sutton (he, him, his)
Praised for having "[...] demonstrated his talents through expressive and authentic interpretations in music[... he] possesses highly sensitive ears that allow him to communicate his music in diverse tone colors[...]" (Yoon-Wha Roh, pianist) and having the strong artistic qualities "[...] to create, to connect, to express, and to bring people together[...]" (Aaron Agulay, baritone). Miles Andrew Sutton has concertized in major venues and cities including the Stern Auditorium of Carnegie Hall, The Betsy Art Gallery of Miami, the Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center, Spokane Public Radio, and various music series throughout the city of Seattle. His efforts as a solo pianist have allowed him to garner top prizes at the International Mozart Competition Vienna (2nd prize), the London Classical Music Competition (3rd prize), and the Euterpe Music Awards (special award). As a collaborative pianist, Miles has worked regularly with professional organizations such as the Chicago Master Singers, Thompson Street Opera Company, The Villages Philharmonic Chorale, and the Wayne Densch Performing Arts Centre. In the world of higher education, he worked at the University of Iowa as a vocal coach and collaborative pianist where he played for student recitals, master classes, guest artist recitals, and was a rehearsal pianist for productions in both the School of Music and Theatre Department. Sutton served as a Teaching Assistant at Washington State University while earning his Master of Arts in Music and was the Treble Choir accompanist, the Concert Choir accompanist, collaborator for student recitals, and instructor of class piano.
Born in Orlando, Florida, Sutton began his musical training with Janna Bartoli. Shortly after, a long list of teachers followed to help him continue his musical education. These teachers included: Jon Sarta, Patricia Sayers, and Steinway Artists Dr. Gary Wolf and Laurent Boukobza. Miles chose to continue his education at Stetson University where he earned a Bachelor of Music Degree with an Outside Field in French, in the studio of Steinway Artist Dr. Michael Rickman. He received his Master of Arts in Music, in both Piano Performance and Collaborative Piano under the careful guidance of Dr. Yoon-Wha Roh at Washington State University in Pullman, WA. Miles continued oboe studies with Dr. Keri E. McCarthy at WSU. Sutton participated in the Miami Classical Music Festival where he studied with Alexandre Moutouzkine, Anton Nel, and Daniel Shapiro, the Borromeo Music Festival where he studied with Angela Cheng, and Jean-Louis Haguenauer, the Lunigiana International Music Festival as a student of Alexandre Moutouzkine, and the inaugural class of the Vancouver Piano Sessions as a student of Michael Esch, Wayne Weng, and Tristan Teo. Master class instructors have included: Boris Slutsky, Steven Spooner, Daniel Shapiro, Nina Scolnik, Jeremy Samolesky, Read Gainsford, Heidi Louise Williams, and the late Norma Mastrogiacomo. His professional and artistic mentors include Miko Kominami, pianist, professor, and founding member of the Murasaki Duo and Maria McGarry, pianist and professor at the Royal Irish Academy of Music.
In the world of New Music, Miles has premiered works by composers, Donald Skoog, Tony Manfredonia, Demi Nicks, Maggie Nicks, and Zoë Austin Wallace. Due to these new music collaborations Sutton and his collaborators have been awarded 2nd Prize at the 3rd Annual Chicago songSLAM, have professionally recorded Don Skoog's suite "Emily Sings," appeared in the first complete performance of the chamber opera “Ghost Variations” filmed with Thompson Street Opera Company of Chicago, been featured on the Festival of Contemporary Art Music (FOCAM) hosted by WSU, and the "Sounds New" series at Stetson University.
Miles maintains a small private studio in Chicago, IL. He is a lifetime Tri-M honors society member, was a student member of MTNA at Stetson University and WSU, and is a mentor for the University of Iowa Honors College.