Long bio:

Eric Charnofsky enjoys a multi-faceted musical career, with professional activities ranging from performance and composition, to teaching, lecturing, conducting, narrating with orchestras, and radio announcing. As a collaborative pianist, he has performed throughout North America, including concerts with members of major American orchestras. Mr. Charnofsky has performed as an orchestral keyboardist with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Cleveland Orchestra, and several regional orchestras, including the Canton and Akron Symphonies, Cleveland Chamber Symphony, Erie Philharmonic, Cleveland Winds, and the Heights Chamber Orchestra, where he recently appeared as soloist in Ernest Bloch’s Concerto Grosso No. 1. Other performance highlights include lecture recitals on music by Francis Poulenc, Paul Hindemith, Samuel Barber, and Aaron Copland; regular performances with the Chamber Music Society of Ohio, Cleveland Composers Guild, Urban Troubadour ensemble, and Local 4 Music Fund recital series; collaboration concerts with Verb Ballets and the Case Western Reserve University Department of Dance; and the Cleveland Chamber Collective as their regular pianist.

As a composer, Mr. Charnofsky’s original works vary from instrumental solo and chamber music to pieces for choir and other vocal ensembles. He has received commissions from the Cleveland Chamber Collective, Pacific Serenades, Chamber Music Society of Ohio, and individual performers, and his works have been performed throughout the U.S. and internationally, including performances of his “Echo” for shakuhachi in Japan and Taiwan. He was named “Composer of the Year” for 2012 by the Ohio Music Teachers Association. Mr. Charnofsky’s 2016-released CD with flutist George Pope features works by seven living composers, including his work “Four Characters.” A reviewer on clevelandclassical.com wrote of this recording: “Eric Charnofsky is a superb partner at the piano, undaunted by the most complicated keyboard writing – including his own.” His compositions have been broadcast on WCLV’s program “Innovations” numerous times, and his choral music has been performed by the Cleveland Chamber Choir, Case Concert Choir, and several church choirs.

Mr. Charnofsky worked for ten years as a classical radio announcer and programmer on WRUW-FM, with a weekly radio program titled “Not Your Grandmother’s Classical Music” that spanned over 1,000 episodes. This included interviewing performers, composers, and orchestral conductors in live, on-air discussions. He was also a radio announcer on KCSN in Los Angeles and has been interviewed himself on multiple radio stations speaking about his performances and compositions. As orchestral narrator, he has appeared as a Dracula impersonator for family concerts with the Cleveland Orchestra in Cleveland and Miami (Florida), with the Firelands Symphony, and in various other performances with multiple different ensembles. He also produced several satire concerts of music by PDQ Bach, performing as keyboardist, conductor, and narrator.

As an educator, Mr. Charnofsky was on the faculty of both Case Western Reserve University and the Cleveland Institute of Music for many years, specializing in collaborative piano, music history and literature, and music theory. He also served as Coordinator of Undergraduate Studies and Undergraduate Enrollment at CWRU. Previous teaching experience included the Juilliard pre-college division. He continues to educate outside of the University setting, frequently giving pre-concert lectures for the Cleveland Orchestra at Severance Hall and for the Cleveland Chamber Music Society. His past expertise in teaching courses on the symphony orchestra and on 20th century music continue to inform his passion and commitment to bringing classical music to public audiences.

Mr. Charnofsky is on the Board of Directors for the Cleveland Chamber Music Society and is the Board Vice President of the Chamber Music Society of Ohio. He is also an active member of Local 4 Musicians Union and the Cleveland Composers Guild, and serves as Assistant Director for the annual She Scores series. Other professional experiences include several years as Associate Faculty at the Music Academy of the West in Santa Barbara, working as rehearsal pianist for Lyric Opera Cleveland, accompanying for university, church, and community choirs, serving as convention accompanist for the National Flute Association, working as music director and pianist for musical theater productions in Los Angeles, and performing as pianist with the Impreza Trio. Mr. Charnofsky is featured on recordings on the Capstone, Albany, Crystal, and Navona labels.

Mr. Charnofsky’s conducting experience includes working as a choral conductor in Cleveland-area churches, including live performances on WCLV-FM, along with directing ensembles with the She Scores series and the Chamber Music Society of Ohio. He spent several years as Music Director at Epworth-Euclid United Methodist Church in Cleveland’s University Circle, and has experience as a church organist as well.

A graduate of The Juilliard School where he earned a master’s degree in piano accompanying, Mr. Charnofsky also holds degrees in solo piano performance and composition from California State University, Northridge, where he merited the music department’s Outstanding Bachelor’s Degree Graduate Award.