Charlie Albright

American pianist/composer/improviser Charlie Albright is a recipient of the prestigious Avery Fisher Career Grant, Gilmore Young Artist Award, and the Ruhr Klavier Festival Young Artist Award presented by Marc-André Hamelin (Germany) and winner of the Young Concert Artists International Auditions. In addition to performing, Albright is sought after as a speaker, masterclass instructor, teacher, and competition judge. His debut commercial recording, Vivace, has sold thousands of copies worldwide, and the first two parts of his three-part, live, all-Schubert recordings were released in 2017 and 2020. Charlie Albright breaks the “classical” rules of music by connecting with audiences like no other. Through his music, speaking, and unique improvisations, he crosses genres...and makes it fun.

Albright regularly performs in programs with artists from all genres, including vocalist/conductor Bobby McFerrin, violinist Joshua Bell, pianist Emanuel Ax, conductor Gum Nanse, and Broadway vocalists Mandy Gonzalez, Scarlett Strallen, and Hugh Panaro. He has performed five times with revered cellist Yo-Yo Ma: at the honorary degree ceremony at Harvard University for Senator Ted Kennedy; at a 10th anniversary remembrance of 9/11; at the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights with Nobel Laureate Toni Morrison; at the Aspen Institute’s Citizen Artistry conference in New York; and with the Silk Road Project.

Albright appears regularly worldwide with such orchestras as the San Francisco, Seattle, Boston Pops, Philly Pops, BBC Concert Orchestra, Seongnam Philharmonic (Korea), Bergen (Norway), Victoria (Canada), and NCPA (China) Symphonies; and at venues including the Walt Disney Concert Hall, Grieg Hall (Norway), and the mainstage of Carnegie Hall.

A firm believer in education, Albright founded the Charlie Albright Scholarship and Charlie Albright Piano in collaboration with the Centralia College Foundation in his hometown. The scholarship provides financial aid to music students, and money was raised to purchase and maintain a new nine-foot Steinway piano for the college’s Corbet Hall.

Albright graduated as the first classical pianist in the Harvard/NEC Joint Program and received his Artist Diploma from the Juilliard School, having studied with Nancy Adsit, Wha-Kyung Byun, and Yoheved Kaplinsky. Albright is an official Steinway Artist.