Dr. James M. Day

Adjunct Instructor of Music (Guitar)

Email: day@tcnj.edu

Director, Guitar Studies
Director, Guitar Ensemble
D.M.A., Performance and Literature, Eastman School of Music
M.M., Performance, Eastman School of Music
B.M., Performance, North Carolina School of the Art

The College of New Jersey Director of Guitar Studies, Dr. James Day has been a member of the Music Department faculty since 1997.  Dr. Day teaches:

• MUS 228: Intermediate Class Guitar
• MUS 229-05: Guitar Ensemble
• MUS 321: Advanced Private Guitar Lessons
• MUS 352: Guitar History and Literature
• MUS 421: Advanced Private Guitar Lessons

• MUS 483: Guitar Pedagogy

Dr. Day’s brochure devoted to TCNJ’s Guitar Studies can be accessed at http://www.tcnj.edu/~day/Documents/guitar_studies.pdf.

In addition to leading Guitar Studies at TCNJ, Dr. Day is serving as Interim Assistant Dean of the School of the Arts and Communication for the 2011-2012 academic year.

James M. Day is active as performer, scholar and teacher in Europe and the United States. His performances have included appearances at Juilliard’s Paul Recital Hall, Bruno Walter Auditorium at Lincoln Center, SolarFest Performing Arts Festival in Vermont, The International Guitar and Lute Exposition in Vicenza, Italy, and St. James Piccadilly in London. His performances have been broadcast on public television and radio and he has received numerous awards, including a top prize in the Rantucci International Guitar Competition in Buffalo. Recent seasons include engagements in the U.S. with Harrisburg Symphony, Eastern Wind Symphony, Boheme Opera Theater of New Jersey, Car Music Project, Princeton Girl Choir, and Guitar Foundation of America International Convention in Los Angeles, and frequent collaborations with soprano Judith Bettina.

An avid promoter of new music, Dr. Day has collaborated closely with composers in the creation and performance of new solo and chamber works. His recent activities include the commission and world-premiere of Eric Sessler’s song cycle Good Words to You (2008), James Lentini’s No Boundaries (2008) for solo guitar, Michael Karmon’s Rain (2009) and the world-premiere of Paul Lansky’s Preludes (2008). Additionally, he is featured in the world-premiere recording of Laurie Altman’s Octet on the album On Course (Albany Records, 2008). His collaborations in new music have received grant support from the Howard Hanson Institute for American Music, Meet the Composer, Musical Fund Society of Philadelphia, and the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts.

In the field of art song, Day’s performances have been hailed as “very sensitive, technically and musically” by Soundboard (Journal of the Guitar Foundation of America). His recording, Night and Dreams: Franz Schubert Lieder with Guitar, with tenor Robert Swensen, was released by Clear Note Publications in 2008. Additionally, Dr. Day has given scholarly lecture-performances on both historical and contemporary art song with guitar at Eastman School of Music, the Philadelphia Guitar Festival, College Music Society International Conference in Madrid and Northeast Conference in Princeton, the Staatliche Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst in Stuttgart, Germany, and recently published an article on the subject in Soundboard.

Dr. Day received his Bachelor of Music degree at the North Carolina School of the Arts under Aaron Shearer and Gerald Klickstein, and his Master of Music and Doctor of Musical Arts degrees in Performance and Literature from the Eastman School of Music under Nicholas Goluses. In addition, he has pursued advanced studies with Oscar Ghiglia at both the Accademia Chigiana in Siena, Italy, and at Incontri chitarrstici in Gargnano, Italy. As a student he performed in master classes of some of the world’s greatest virtuosi including Pepe Romero, David Russell, Paul O’Dette, and William Kanengiser. Currently, he is Director of Guitar Studies at The College of New Jersey and Adjunct Associate Professor at Westminster College of the Arts of Rider University. In 2005, Dr. Day held a three-month residency as guest artist teacher at the Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst and Johann Wolfgang Goethe-Universität in Frankfurt, Germany.

Webpage: http://www.tcnj.edu/~day