Classical Performance : Woodwinds

Welcome to the William Paterson University Woodwinds - if you play flute, clarinet, saxophone, oboe, or bassoon, this is the place for you!

Our close proximity to New York City attracts world-class woodwind faculty. You will study privately with a faculty member who is on the cutting edge of the profession. Our faculty members perform throughout the NYC metropolitan area, and tour around the world with the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, St. Luke’s Chamber Orchestra, New York Philharmonic Orchestra, Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, Broadway shows, with groups such as Paul Simon and Todd Rundgren, and in many area chamber ensembles.

Our focus is on diverse and abundant performing opportunities. You will be involved with chamber ensembles, orchestra, wind ensemble and contemporary music ensembles.   You can even form your own ensemble and receive faculty coaching. WPU ensembles regularly perform both on campus and off campus, presenting concerts in public schools, local churches, and on public concert series. You will be encouraged to explore diverse musical styles and genres.  You will have opportunities to improvise, compose, and arrange for student ensembles.

Woodwinds Faculty:

Teresa Purcell-Giles* - Woodwind Area Coordinator, flute
Teresa Purcell-Giles joined the faculty at William Paterson University in 2021 and serves as Director of Bands/Assistant Professor of Music and Flute. In her role at WP, Dr. Purcell-Giles conducts the William Paterson Wind Symphony, teaches applied flute, advanced conducting and woodwind methods and coordinates the WP woodwind area applied studies.

Prior to her appointment at William Paterson, she was Director of Bands at Oklahoma Baptist University, and has taught 5th-12th grade bands in the public schools of Georgia and Kansas.

Purcell-Giles holds degrees from the University of Oklahoma (D.M.A. Wind Conducting, 2017), Kansas State University (M.M. Instrumental Conducting, 2011) and the University of Texas at El Paso (B.M. Music Education, 2007). Her primary conducting teachers have been Frank Tracz and Bill Wakefield, and she studied flute with Melissa Colgin-Abeln and Mary Lee Cochran.

Dr. Purcell-Giles is active as a clinician, adjudicator and guest conductor across the country. She has presented nationally on topics ranging from engaging audiences through interactive performances to wellness and injury prevention for conductors, and in 2016, was invited to guest conduct the United States Army Band Pershing's Own as part of their annual Conductor's Workshop.
She holds professional affiliations with the College Band Directors National Association, the National Association for Music Educators, New Jersey Music Educators, the National Flute Association and is an honorary member of Tau Beta Sigma and Kappa Kappa Psi.
Purcell-Giles lives in Wayne, NJ with her husband, Ken and son, Simon.

Sarah Davol - oboe
Sarah Davol has performed on Broadway for Mary Poppins, Les Miserables, Fiddler on the Roof, Oklahoma, Jekyll & Hyde, Little Women, Bombay Dreams, and was solo oboist for LaChiusa's Bernarda Alba at Lincoln Center. She performs with orchestras and festivals from New York to Los Angeles including American Ballet Theater, American Classical Orchestra, Caramoor, Concert Royal, Handel & Haydn Society (Boston), Mostly Mozart, Tanglewood, Washington Bach Consort and more. She has performed concertos with Amor Artis, Concert Royal, Vox Ama Deus (Philadelphia) Los Angeles Baroque Orchestra, toured South America as soloist with Bachanalia, and her recording of Sunbin Kim'sAphorisms for solo oboe won a national ASCAP award. She directs Englewinds, a new music ensemble described as "cutting edge" by Lucid Culture. She may be heard on recordings on BMG, Centaur, Dorian, Harmonia Mundi, Helicon, Loft, Lyrachord, Music Masters, Newport Classics, Okenti, Smithsonian, Teldec, Titanic and Vox. Sarah Davol's website and Engle Winds website.

Andrea Herr - bassoon
Andrea Herr enjoys a varied performing career as bassoonist and contra-bassoonist. Her orchestral engagements have included performances with the Little Orchestra Society, New York City Opera, the New Jersey Symphony and the American Symphony Orchestra. Ms. Herr held Principal Bassoon positions in Spain with the Orquesta Sinfonica de Galicia and Opera Teatro Galicia. Noted performances include the American Premiere of the opera Prima Donna by Rufus Wainwright, the Lincoln Center Premiere of Disney Fantasia, Live in Concert and Premieres of new chamber music works by Lalo Schifrin, Joan Tower and Keith Jarrett. On Broadway Andrea has performed with the New York productions of Beauty and the Beast, Phantom of the Opera, Fiddler on the Roof, Nine, Into the Woods and West Side Story. Other appearances include performances with the Lincoln Center Festival, Paris Opera Ballet, Bard Opera and the Bach Aria Festival.

For Music for Life International Ms.Herr traveled to India with members of the Metropolitan Opera to perform with the Bombay Chamber Orchestra. She has recorded for PBS Television, Radio Nacional Espana and for numerous television and radio commercials including Pepsi-Cola, Disney and Visa. Ms. Herr holds degrees from the New England Conservatory, Manhattan School of Music and the Juilliard School. An Adjunct Faculty member at William Paterson University since 2016, Andrea is also on faculty at Kean University and New Jersey City University.

Andrew Lamy - clarinet
Clarinetist Andrew Lamy has received consistent critical acclaim for his sweet, colorful tone, liquid phrasing, immaculate technique, and his energetic performance style. Mr. Lamy has performed live national and international broadcasts with the Metropolitan Opera and the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, is a founding member of the Halcyon Trio, and has collaborated with the Artis Quartet of Vienna, the Getty Center, the Lincoln Center Festival, the Mixed-Flock Orchestra Project, and the Mad Coyote Ensemble. His solo engagements include concerti with the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra, the Haddonfield Symphony Orchestra, the North Shore Philharmonic, and the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra. Mr. Lamy has also performed with the New York Philharmonic, the American Symphony Orchestra, American Ballet Theater, the Concordia Orchestra, and the Royal Opera of London. Mr. Lamy has appeared as a guest teacher at The Juilliard School, USC, CSU Northridge, Occidental College, Rutgers University, University of Tennessee, University of Maine, Bard College, and the Cal Arts Institute. Students of Mr. Lamy have gone on to attain professional positions in the Milwaukee Symphony, The Pacific Symphony, and the Santa Fe Opera.

James Noyes - saxophone
“A monumental force of ideas and energy” (Saxophone Journal), James Noyes has performed with the Long Island Philharmonic, Juilliard Symphony Orchestra, Manhattan Chamber Sinfonia, Susquehanna Symphony, Disney’s All-American College Orchestra, Argento New Music Project, New York Arts Ensemble, David Amram, Rosemary Clooney, Toni Tennille, Sam “Soul Man” Moore, Safe Sax Jazz Quintet, Soul Gypsys, and the Doobie Brothers. He led the SURGE Saxophone Quartet to a first prize at the 28th Artists International Chamber Music Competition, where they presented a recital of works written for the quartet at Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall. In his live performances, Noyes is renowned for a sound that is both “entrancing in its dreamy melancholy” (New York Concert Review) and a “shape-shifting mass of pure expression” (I Care if You Listen). His studio recordings include Shadowcatcher, with Eric Ewazen and the Juilliard Wind Ensemble (New World Records), and Imaginings (self-produced), which features solo works written for him by Eric Nathan, Steve Cohen, Michael Patterson, Richard Miller, and Rich Shemaria. An avid scholar of saxophone history and the music of Claude Debussy, his articles appear in Musical Quarterly, Saxophone Symposium, Saxophone Journal, and Journal of the American Musical Instrument Society. He was also a featured columnist in Saxophone Today, an online magazine. Dr. Noyes is the author of Elise Hall: La Dame au Saxophone, the complete biography of the late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century saxophonist, to be published in 2023.
Formerly on the faculty of the Pennsylvania State School of Music (theory, jazz history, saxophone), Dr. Noyes presently serves on the faculties of William Paterson University (saxophone) and the Manhattan School of Music Precollege Division (theory/ear training, chamber music, and saxophone), where he is the former Chair of the Theory Department. For twenty years (2002-2022), he was also Artistic Director of MOSA (Music at Our Saviour’s Atonement), a concert series in upper Manhattan. He is the composer of over fifty works, including Songs of Equinox Liturgy (2006), The Way of Ascension (2013), and Festival of Light (2014). He earned the Doctor of Musical Arts degree from Manhattan School of Music, where he was the recipient of the Helen Cohn Award for outstanding doctoral student. His teachers were Paul Cohen (saxophone), Nils Vigeland (theory), and Kenneth Cooper (performance practice).

Timothy Ruedeman - saxophone
American Saxophonist Timothy Ruedeman, has been praised for his “extreme virtuosity” (Philadelphia Inquirer), “elegant and pure sound” (Saxophone Journal), and “versatile virtuosity” (Fanfare Magazine).

Recent performing highlights include: Soloist for New York Philharmonic CONTACT! series; Metropolitan Museum of Art Adolphe Sax bicentenary exhibit; Lincoln Center Festival; Mostly Mozart Festival; soundScape festival in Macagno, Italy; and TV performances on Good Morning America with Tony Bennett, Live! with Kelly and Michael, and Late Night with David Letterman.

Winner of the 2004 Olga Koussevitzky competition, Mr. Ruedeman has performed with the New York Philharmonic, Charleston Symphony, Manhattan Chamber Orchestra, Bridgeport Symphony, Long Island Philharmonic, New Jersey Pops, Discovery Orchestra, Metro Chamber Orchestra, and Juilliard Symphony and as soloist with Greenwich Symphony, Manhattan Chamber Orchestra, Metamorphosis Orchestra, the S.E.M. Ensemble, Hanover Wind Symphony, and Empire State City Men’s Chorus.

A vital part of New York City’s new music scene, Mr. Ruedeman has performed with Absolute Ensemble, International Contemporary Ensemble (I.C.E), Argento Ensemble, American Composers Alliance, Composer Concordance, Merce Cunningham Dance Company, and Imani Winds. He is a founding member of Flexible Music and Grammy nominated New Hudson Saxophone Quartet. He has given the premieres of over sixty new works and has collaborated closely with composers Louis Andriessen, Lukas Foss, Eric Ewazen, and Nico Muhly, to name a few. Mr. Ruedeman has toured and recorded with jazz and rock legends: The Cars, Todd Rundgren, Rostam of Vampire Weekend, M. Ward, David Foster, Christopher Cross, Lou Gramm, Hamilton Leithauser, Paul Shaffer, and The Walkmen.

As part of his ongoing project: Entartete Musik: music and composers suppressed by the Third Reich. Mr. Ruedeman has presented at American Musical Instrument Society, New York Performing Arts Library, Institute of Contemporary Art (Boston), and Nicholas Roerich Museum, and is on faculty at NYU, Queens College, and William Paterson University.

* Full-time faculty