James Adler is a pianist who “can create whatever type of music he wants at the keyboard” (Chicago Sun-Times) and a composer who writes “with uncommon imagination” (Atlanta Journal-Constitution). He has been commissioned by the Curtis Institute of Music to compose a work as part of the Curtis Centenary Commissioning Initiative “100x100”. Mr. Adler will compose a work for solo piano to be performed and recorded by him in 2023, marking the 50th anniversary of Mr. Adler’s graduation from Curtis.

In April 2023, Mr. Adler returns to the Arts on Bergen midday concert series at Saint Peter’s University, where he will premiere a new work by Henco Espag: Mistieke Feetjies, composed for and dedicated to him. Thoughout the season, Mr. Adler will be recording his theatre and art songs at the Yamaha Artist Services Piano Salon for a forthcoming release by Albany Records. The release also features Mr. Adler’s latest work, “Hope is the thing with feathers" (poetry by Emily Dickinson). He recently joined the Sound Espressivo Advisory Board. Sound Espressivo - Virtual Classical/Jazz music is known for the competitions and events it hosts. For the 2022-23 concert season, they will be introducing auditions to compete for an in-person concerto appearance at Carnegie Hall, New York City, as well as with orchestras around the world, in addition to offering online Virtual Concert Halls concerts and events. The James Adler Audience Favorite Award is presented at Carnegie Hall during the Laureates Gala.

Mr. Adler made his orchestral performing debut with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and has appeared in recital on the Orchestra’s Allied Arts Piano Series, and the Dame Myra Hess Memorial Concerts Series. His appearances have brought him from Chicago's Grant Park, to London’s Royal Albert Hall (broadcast by the BBC), to Thesseloniki, Greece, to New York’s Alice Tully Hall, Symphony Space, and the Paramount Theatre at Madison Square Garden.

His extensive list of compositions is headed by "Memento mori: An AIDS Requiem". Performed worldwide, recorded by AmorArtis Chorale and Orchestra, and published by Alfred Music, "Memento mori" features a
“range of expression [that] is expansive” and is “a unique, well-crafted, emotionally rich piece” (American Record Guide). Other compositions include Reflections upon a September morn (poetry by Walt Whitman); Songs of Innocence and of Experience with poetry by William Blake; A Winter Triptych (recorded by the choir of Judson Memorial Church, Henco Espag, music director); Monday’s Child, performed at The Cathedral of Saint John the Divine and at The Metropolitan Museum of Art; Daughters of Music (lyric by Debra Rue), commissioned by Sigma Alpha Iota International Music Fraternity Fort Worth Alumnae Chapter and
performed at the SAI National Convention in 2018; Carols of Splendour, premiered at Carnegie Hall (“A cheerful, splashy tour de force, skillfully constructed and full of clever ideas,” The Choral Journal); It’s Gotta
Be America, commissioned for the Centennial Celebration of the Statue of Liberty; FANFARE XL for symphonic band, written for the 40th anniversary of The Lesbian & Gay Big Apple Corps; Elegy and Impromptu for Oboe and Piano (commissioned and premiered by Ian Shafer); and Canticle For Peace, written for the opening of the 43rd session of the United Nations General Assembly (published by Colla Voce Music).

Mr. Adler is also the composer of Concerto in G for Piano and Orchestra (published by Alfred Music and distributed by Luck’s Music Library), the children’s “pOpera” Herbie and Carnie: A Dinosaga, the Classic Rag-time Suite for orchestra, numerous solo, chamber, and choral works, and the award-winning film score for The Hat Act.

As performer and composer, Mr. Adler can be heard on recordings from Albany Records, Capstone, Navona, and Ravello Records. He is a member of the Department of Fine Arts at Saint Peter’s University, a National Arts Associate in the Sigma Alpha Iota International Music Fraternity and was selected in 2018 for membership in the SAI Composer’s Bureau. James Adler is a recipient of the 2017 Marquis Lifetime Achievement Award. Mr. Adler is a Yamaha Artist.