Stanley Charkey

Stanley Charkey was born in Brooklyn N.Y. in 1948. He holds degrees from the Hartt School of Music and the University of Massachusetts. For the past twenty-five years he has been a member of the faculty at Marlboro College in Vermont where he teaches Music Theory, Composition, and History. His compositions include works for a variety of chamber ensembles, including the Apple Hill Chamber Players, cellist Paul Cohen, pianist Luis Batlle, and violist Michael Tree. In addition, he has written works for dance, theater, and television (PBS). He is a winner of the 1998 Renée B. Fisher Composer Award, 1997 VMTA Composer of the Year, and a frequent Fellow at the Ragdale Arts Foundation in Lake Forest Ill. His 3 Small Inventions for Piano have been recorded by Michael Arnowitt.He is also well known as a lutanist, who has performed extensively in the United States and Europe and can be heard on a number of recordings.

"Cellist Paul Cohen has asked me to write a work of about 15 minute duration to be performed on a series of concerts of new music for solo 6 String Electric Cello. I have also been asked to write a work for the Claremont Duo. The duo consists of Cello and Guitar. The duo performs regularly in Germany and the United States. The work will be performed during their 2008-2009 season. If there is remaining time, I hope to finish a work for Soprano, Baritone, Clarinet, Strings and Percussion on alternating texts of Troubador verse and contemporary (21st century) poems by women. This work was requested by Soprano Jane Bryden in 2000 but never completed. As a professor at a small liberal arts college with an intensive teaching schedule, I have little time, except for summers for my composition projects. I am on sabbatical in the Fall of 2007 and hope to use this time to sustain writing begun during the spring semester or during the summer 2007. This residency would guarantee uninterrupted creative work and give me the opportunity to finish some projects and develop some new paths for my compositions."