Biography

Equally at home as a solo pianist, collaborator, and composer, Charles Berofsky seeks to engage audiences through a myriad of styles and genres of music. Born in South Bend, Indiana, 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 was awarded Third Prize at the 10th New York International Piano Competition, which took place at the Manhattan School of Music in June 2022. He was also a co-recipient of the Melvin Stecher and Norman Horowitz First Prize for the one piano, four-hands ensemble round. In February 2023 Charles performed Mozart’s Piano Concerto in E-flat, K. 449 with the conductorless New England Conservatory Chamber Orchestra in Jordan Hall, as the winner of the 2022 NEC Piano Chamber Orchestra Competition. Other recent awards include First Prize, along with an audience favorite prize, at the 2021 Thousand Islands International Piano Competition (senior division) in Cape Vincent, New York; Second Prize at the 2021 Chautauqua piano competition; and Runner-Up in the 2021 New York MTNA piano competition (Young Artist Division). In January 2020 Charles became one of the youngest students to win a concerto competition at the Eastman School of Music, performing Beethoven’s “Emperor” Concerto with the Eastman School Symphony Orchestra in February during his sophomore year. For his compositions, he has received a commission from the American Guild of Organists and four prizes from the Eastman composition department. He also won 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 (2018 and 2016 respectively).

Charles has attended summer music festivals in the United States and Europe, including the Taos School of Music, Mozarteum Internationale Sommerakademie, Academia Internacional de Música de Solsona, Chautauqua Institution, Orford Music Festival, and Bowdoin International Music Festival. He has performed in Austria, Spain, Italy, and Canada, and has played in solo master classes for Malcolm Bilson, Andreas Frölich, Christopher Hinterhuber, Alexander Kobrin, Ronan O’Hora, and Daniel Shapiro, 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 Temple Emanu-El of New York, the Eastman School of Music, and the University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre and Dance; and has been featured as a guest artist with the Jupiter Symphony Chamber Players and the Pressenda Chamber Players. He is also an experienced church organist, having played for St. Cyprian’s Church in Boston in 2023-2024 and St. Thomas the Apostle Catholic Church in Ann Arbor in 2017-2018.

An avid chamber musician, Charles is the pianist of Trio Sponte, which recently won the Grand Prize in the Senior Division of the 2024 Coltman Chamber Music Competition, along with 1st Prize in the Strings/Piano Category. Trio Sponte was selected for the New England Conservatory’s prestigious Honors Ensemble program for the 2023-24 school year; the award comes with a stipend, a recital in Jordan Hall, and various community engagements. In 2023 he was one of five NEC students to be selected for the Borromeo String Quartet’s yearly Guest Artist Award. Charles was previously the pianist of the Newbury Trio, an NEC Honors Ensemble during the 2022-23 school year. He also enjoys playing with members of his family as the pianist of the Berofsky Piano Quartet, along with his father, violinist Aaron Berofsky; his mother, violinist/violist Kathryn Votapek; and his brother, cellist Sebastian Berofsky.

Charles is currently finishing his Master’s degree in piano performance at NEC, where he studies with HaeSun Paik. He obtained his Bachelor’s degree from the Eastman School of Music with a double major in composition and piano performance, where he was also admitted to the national music honor society Pi Kappa Lambda. He has studied piano with 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, Lisa Goode Crawford, and William Porter; and organ with Scott Van Ornum.