Violinist Charles Wetherbee has performed throughout the world,
including Europe, Asia, the Middle East, Canada, Mexico, and the United
States. He has appeared at the Aspen Music Festival, the Garth Newell
Center, the Hidden Valley Festival (CA), the Roycroft Chamber Festival
(NY), the Nouvelle Academie International d’Été (Nice, France), the
Olympic Music Festival (WA), the MidAmerica Music Festival (OH), and
Strings in the Mountains (CO). A native of Buffalo, New York, Charles
gave his first performances at age six. He made his debut with the
Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra under Symon Bychkov, and since then has
performed with the National Symphony under Mstislav Rostropovitch, as
well as the Japan Philharmonic, the Concerto Soloists of Philadelphia,
the Philharmonic Orchestra of Bogota (Columbia), the National Repertory
Orchestra, the Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional de Mexico, the Symphony
Orchestra of the Curtis Institute, the Buffalo Philharmonic, and the
Virginia Symphony, among others. In 1988 he toured Asia, including
performances in Seoul, Korea, as part of the Olympic Arts Festival. In
the same year he also made his New York debut at Carnegie Hall to
critical acclaim as a participant in the American Music Competition. In
1990, he traveled to the Persian Gulf to perform for the men and women
of the armed services. The Washington Post called Wetherbee “a consummate artist... with flawless technique”. The Virginia Pilot said that he “... gave a performance of great conviction and emotion”. The Columbus Dispatch wrote “... a first rate showman... his double-stops, harmonics, and beautiful sound kept the audience spellbound”.
Charles is an artist dedicated to the music
of today, as well as to the great literature of the past. In May of
2007, he was invited to St. Petersburg, Russia, to give the Russian
premiere of Grammy Award winning composer John Corigliano’s Violin
Concerto, and was subsequently invited back to perform the Beethoven
concerto in the famous Shostakovich Philharmonic Hall. Charles has been
heard nationwide on the NPR program “Performance Today”, featuring his
performance of the Red Violin by Mr. Corigliano with Joanne Falletta and
the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra. In 2002, he gave the Latin American
premier of the Red Violin, and was immediately re-engaged to return in
2003, for performances of the Szymanowski Violin Concerto. In November
2005, Charles gave the world premiere of the Violin Concerto by composer
Jonathan Leshnoff with the Columbus Symphony, and then performed the
concerto in Baltimore, MD with the Baltimore Chamber Orchestra. The Baltimore Sun
wrote “This was very classy fiddle playing, with a golden, penetrating
tone, sterling technique and strongly communicative phrasing.” Mr.
Wetherbee has also performed the Leshnoff concerto in Mexico City,
Mexico, with the Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional de Mexico; in Kyoto, Japan,
with the Kyoto Symphony Orchestra; and in Breckenridge, Colorado, with
the National Repertory Orchestra. Other world premieres include the
Leshnoff Double Concerto for Violin and Viola with Michael Stern and the
IRIS Chamber Orchestra, followed by performances in Duluth (MN), St.
Petersburg (Russia), Orquesta de Extremadura (Spain), Buffalo (NY), and
Boca Raton (FL). Charles will perform the world premiere of the violin
concerto by Korine Fujiwara in the National Gallery, Washington, DC, as
part of the 100th Anniversary of the Cherry Blossom Festival.
A devoted chamber musician, Charles is the
first violinist of the Carpe Diem String Quartet, with whom he tours and
performs regularly. With Carpe Diem he is featured on many different
CDs, and also has recorded with Carpe Diem and guitarist Willy Porter as
a member of the mealies. He was a founding member of Opus 3 piano trio,
and with Opus 3 performed in the French, German, Austrian, and Dutch
embassies, as well as the Terrace Theater of the Kennedy Center, the
National Gallery, the Corcoran Gallery, Strathmore Hall, and throughout
the eastern United States. He is also the Artistic Director of the
Dercum Center for Arts and Humanities, Keystone, Colorado.
Charles is newly appointed to the violin
faculty of the College of Music, University of Colorado at Boulder. He
is a graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music, where he studied with
Aaron Rosand. Other mentors include Sylvia Rosenberg, Karen Tuttle, and
Felix Galimir. Early studies were with Katherine Hafner, Bernard Mandelkern and Tom Halpin. As a recording artist, he is represented on Naxos, Seize
the Music Records, Weasel Records, Vienna Modern Classics, as well as
the Cascade labels, and was also featured on a recording with the
Columbus Symphony Orchestra playing Massenet’s Meditation from Thaïs.
Mr. Wetherbee has been the recipient of numerous honors, including the
Ashworth Artist and the George Hardesty awards. Charles performs on a
violin made by Kurt Widenhouse, and bows by Charles Espy and Benoit
Rolland.