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. Currently based in Munich, Germany, Charles gives solo and chamber performances regularly, both on modern piano and historical 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; in the former instance, at age 20, he was one of the youngest students to ever win a concerto competition at Eastman. 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 Music Academy of the West, International Lieven Foundation in 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 given solo recitals at Schloss Nymphenburg in Munich and Temple Emanu-El of New York and he recently performed concertos with the Symphony Orchestras of Málaga and Segovia in Spain.

An avid chamber musician, Charles has been featured as a guest artist with the Jupiter Symphony Chamber Players and the Pressenda Chamber Players. In 2023, he was a recipient of the Borromeo String Quartet’s annual Guest Artist Award. He is also the pianist of the Berofsky Piano Quartet and Trio Sponte. The latter ensemble, formed at the New England Conservatory, was awarded Grand Prize at the 2024 Coltman Chamber Music Competition (Senior Division) and was selected for NEC’s prestigious Honors Ensemble program in 2023. In Munich, Charles plays with Trio Monacum and has performed on the Löwenberg Chamber Music Festival.

Charles is currently studying piano with Antti Siirala, as well as harpsichord and fortepiano with Christine Schornsheim, at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater München. He obtained his Master’s degree from the New England Conservatory and his Bachelor’s degree from the Eastman School of Music. He has studied piano with HaeSun Paik, Alan Chow, Logan Skelton, and John Ellis; composition with Ricardo Zohn-Muldoon, Robert Morris, David Liptak, and Carlos Sanchez-Gutierrez; harpsichord with Peter Sykes, Michael Sponseller, and Lisa Goode Crawford; and organ with Scott Van Ornum.