JAMES WINN, piano and composition professor at the University of Nevada, Reno and principal keyboard of both the Reno Philharmonic and the Reno Chamber Orchestras since 1997, made his professional debut with the Denver Symphony at the age of thirteen, and has been performing widely in North America, Europe, and Asia ever since. With his duo-piano partner, Cameron Grant, he was a recipient of the top prize given in the two-piano category of the 1980 ARD International Competition held in Munich. Dr. Winn has been a solo pianist with the New York City Ballet, a member of the New York New Music Ensemble, of Hexagon (woodwind quintet plus piano), and the pianist and resident composer of the Telluride Chamber Music Festival, as well as a frequent guest with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Speculum, the Washington Square Contemporary Music Series, the Chamber Music Society of Sacramento, the Group for Contemporary Music, Cactus Pear Chamber Music Festival, La Musica International Chamber Music Festival, and Bargemusic.

Well-known as a specialist in new music, he has been involved in numerous world premieres and premiere recordings by many renowned composers, among them thirteen Pulitzer Prize winners, and has had performances archived in the prestigious “Art of the States” project. He is currently a member of Argenta, a regularly featured performer in the Nevada Chamber Music Festival, and appears frequently in recital with internationally acclaimed New York based violinist Rolf Schulte. An active recording artist, Winn is featured in more than three dozen CDs as soloist, chamber musician, and composer. Dr. Winn’s compositions have been performed internationally. He has received the University of Nevada, Reno College of Liberal Arts’ Mousel/Feltner award for creative activity, an Artist Fellowship Grant in composition from the Nevada Arts Council, the 2007 Award for Creative Activity from Board of Regents of the Nevada System of Higher Education, and the 2009 Governor’s Award for Excellence in the Arts.