March 23, 2015
Renowned violinist Charles Castleman to present recital
Distinguished violinist and pedagogue Charles Castleman will present a recital of works for a solo violin at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, March 25, in All Faiths Chapel.
As part of his two-day residency, Castleman will give a master class for K-State students from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Thursday, March 26, in Hale Library's Hemisphere Room. This residency is sponsored by a grant from the Academic Excellence Fund and the School of Music, Theatre, and Dance. Both events are free and the public is cordially invited to attend.
Professor of violin at the Eastman School of Music since 1975, Castleman's career as a performer began at the age of 6, when he performed a concerto with the Boston Pops Orchestra. In his 20s, Castleman was a medalist in the Tchaikovsky and Brussels competitions. Throughout his career, he has performed as soloist with the orchestras of Boston, Brisbane, Chicago, Kiev, Mexico City, Moscow, New York, Philadelphia, Hong Kong, Seoul and Shanghai, and made appearances at the Australian, Budapest, Marlboro and Vienna festivals.
A boxed CD set of the 17 best prize-winning violin performances of the Brussels competition's 50-year history includes his performance of the Jongen Concerto. Castleman also has recorded the six Ysaye solo sonatas and Hubay Csardases. As a member of the Raphael Trio, he recorded Dvorak, Beethoven, Mendelssohn and Wolf-Ferrari on Sony Classical, Nonesuch, Unicorn, Discover and ASV; in the String Trio of N.Y., Reger and Martin for BASF.
Castleman's international pedagogical reputation has led to master-classes in Australia, Austria, China, England, Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, New Zealand, Switzerland, and Ukraine. His seven-week summer workshop for solo and chamber music performance, The Castleman Quartet Program, in its 46th season, has been praised by Yo-Yo Ma as "the best program of its kind … a training ground in lifemanship." Castleman has been transitioning to a new position at the University of Miami's Frost School of Music this year, after 40 years at Eastman.