Biography

Equally at home as a soloist, collaborator, and composer, Charles Berofsky seeks to engage audiences through a myriad of styles and genres of music. Charles grew up in Ann Arbor, Michigan and began piano lessons when he was six years old. He also developed an interest in composition from a young age and started organ lessons at age 14. Charles performs frequently as soloist and a chamber musician in the United States and Europe, both on the modern piano and on period instruments.

Charles has been a prizewinner at various international piano competitions, including Campillos (First Prize & Orchestra Prize), New York (Third Prize to a solo performer & First Prize for the piano four-hands ensemble), and Thousand Islands (First Prize, senior division). Charles has also won concerto competitions at both the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York and the New England Conservatory in Boston, Massachusetts. For his compositions, he has received a commission from the American Guild of Organists and four prizes from the Eastman School of Music. Other awards include First Prize at the 2018 Chicago College of Performing Arts Young Composer Competition and First Prizes at the Dearborn and Dexter Youth Artist Concerto Competitions in southeastern Michigan.

Charles has participated in festivals and master classes in the United States and Europe, including the Four Seasons Chamber Music Festival, Music Academy of the West, International Lieven Foundation of Vienna, IMS Prussia Cove, Taos School of Music, and Chautauqua Institution. He has had the opportunity to work with pianists such as Thomas Adès, Ya-Fei Chuang, Jeremy Denk, Alexander Kobrin, Robert Levin, Andreas Staier, and Arie Vardi, as well as working closely in chamber music settings with Robert McDonald, Yeesun Kim, Angelo Xiang Yu, and Thomas Sauer. He has recently appeared as a soloist with the Residenz-Solisten of Munich, Germany and with the Symphony Orchestras of Málaga and Segovia in Spain, and he has given solo recitals at Schloss Nymphenburg in Munich and Temple Emanu-El of New York.

Charles was recently named a member of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center's Bowers Program (2027-2030). An avid chamber musician, Charles has been featured regularly as a guest artist with the Jupiter Symphony Chamber Players (New York) and the Pressenda Chamber Players (Washington, D.C. area). He is the pianist of Trio Sponte (Boston) and the Berofsky Piano Quartet (Ann Arbor). He was a recipient of the Borromeo String Quartet’s Guest Artist Award (‘23) and was a member of the New England Conservatory’s Honors Ensemble Program for two consecutive years, with Trio Sponte (‘23-24) and the Newbury Trio (‘22-23). In Munich, Charles has been featured on the Löwenberg Chamber Music Festival.

Charles will begin doctoral studies at The Juilliard School in New York in the fall, studying with Robert McDonald. He obtained a post-Master’s degree from the Hochschule für Musik und Theater München in Germany, a Master’s degree from the New England Conservatory, and a Bachelor’s degree with a double major in Piano Performance and Composition from the Eastman School of Music. Past mentors include Antti Siirala, HaeSun Paik, Alan Chow, and Logan Skelton (piano); Ricardo Zohn-Muldoon, Robert Morris, David Liptak, and Carlos Sanchez-Gutierrez (composition); Christine Schornsheim, Peter Sykes, Michael Sponseller, and Lisa Goode Crawford (harpsichord/fortepiano); and Scott Van Ornum (organ).