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Amos Gillespie
Music

Adjunct Lecturer

amosg@uic.edu

312-996-2977

Courses Taught

  • MUS 201: Music Theory III
  • MUS 203: Ear Training III

Education

Master of Music in Composition, Chicago College of Performing Arts, Roosevelt University

About

Amos’ music has been heard on WFMT in Chicago, WQXR in New York City and PBS. His music spans a wide range of genres including chamber and orchestra concert music, jazz, as well as music for film, theater and dance. His music has been commissioned and performed by the International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE), Atlantic Music Festival Contemporary Ensemble, Third Millennium Ensemble, Eclipse Theater, Barkada Saxophone Quartet, Kaia String Quartet, Access Contemporary Music (ACM) and the Chicago Composers Orchestra among many others.

As a saxophonist Amos performs with his own quartet-septet and has played along with the Hard Art Groop, New Millennium Orchestra, Alvarez Orchestra, Lake Shore Rush Ensemble, Origin of Animal, Chicago Composers Consortium, and Access Contemporary Music (ACM) among others.

Amos’ music has been heard at various venues and Festivals around the world including The Ear Taxi Festival, Thirsty Ear Festival, Atlantic Music Festival, Illinois Musicians Festival at Grant Park, North American Saxophone Alliance Conference, Preston Bradley Hall Sunday Salon Series, An Die Musik in Baltimore MD, Music Institute of Chicago, Piano Forte, Court Theatre and the Green Mill among others.

Amos has received special recognition and finalist awards from ASCAP, League of Composers (ISCM), American Prize, Columbia Orchestra, the Macarthur Foundation and the Illinois Arts Council, and has won numerous grants including the 2013, 2016 IAS professional development grant through the Illinois Arts Council, a Lucerne fellowship through the Chicago sister cities program and the Swiss benevolent society, as well as the 2008 Evanston Cultural Arts Grant and several Chicago Community Arts Assistance Program Grants (CAAP).

He recently released “Unstructured Time” for jazz septet, about finding introspective peace in a loud world, in-person and live-streamed from Constellation in Chicago, March 4, 2022. The album garnished positive reviews from numerous outlets around the country including “Jazz Weekly”, and it was featured on over 10 different radio stations and placed on several top ten lists in 2022. “A really satisfying release that buoyantly goes the distance.” – Chris Spector; Midwest Record. Amos has 4 solo albums and original work featured on 4 others. His album titled “Solo!” is included on the Centaur label.

Access Contemporary Music recently commissioned him to write a work for string trio inspired by Frank Lloyd Wright’s Emil Bach house in Chicago, as a part of their “Buildings and Moods” architectural series. His piece, along with others on the project, have been featured in several concerts and is being compiled into a documentary film produced by David Less and Kim Schlechter. The film will be featured in the “All Arts” online streaming platform hosted by WNET in NYC, the country’s flagship PBS station.

He has served on the board with New Music Chicago for three years, Lakeshore Rush since 2016 and the Chicago Composers Consortium since 2020; he is also is an active contributing member with Access Contemporary Music in Chicago. He received a Master’s degree in composition from the Chicago College of Performing Arts at Roosevelt University and a Bachelor’s degree in Saxophone performance from Northern Arizona University.