About

Praised for performing with “..absolute beauty, musicianship and integrity..” (yourobservor.com), violist Charles Galante is a dedicated soloist, chamber and orchestral musician. Mr. Galante has collaborated in concert with The Silk Road Ensemble, Timothy Eddy, Frans Helmerson, Colin Carr, Ara Gregorian, Charles Neidich, Steven Mackey, Elmar Oliviera, James Dunham, Antonio Lysy and Charles Wetherbee. He has performed internationally and all over the United States in prestigious venues such as Alice Tully Hall, Carnegie Hall, Koussevitzky Music Shed, Helsinki Music Center, Berwaldhallen Concert Hall, Kodak Theatre, Tilles Center, Peter Jay Sharpe Theatre, Sarasota Opera House, George R. Brown Convention Center, Kilbourn Hall, Seiji Ozawa Hall, among many others and has had performances broadcast live on WSMR, WAMC, NEPM 88.5 and WQXR Young Artist Showcase. His festival appearances include Ravinia, Verbier, Fjord Classics, Taos, Miesbach, Lucerne, Spoleto, Four Seasons Winter Workshop, Kneisel Hall, Sarasota, Lake George, The Heifetz Institute, Sejong, Juilliard ChamberFest, Baltic Sea and the Tanglewood Music Center, where he was the recipient of the Maurice Schwarz Viola Prize in 2017. Mr. Galante has been coached by members of the Guarneri, Juilliard, Orion, Emerson, Cleveland, Borromeo, Shanghai, Mendelssohn, Miro, Cavani, Brentano, Ying, Fine Arts, Michelangelo and Dover Quartets.

Mr. Galante will serve as the 2. Solo Viola of the Wiener Symphoniker during the 2024-2025 season. He is also a tutti violist of the Opera Ballet Vlaanderen in Belgium where he has as performed as both principal and associate principal viola . Before these appointments, he served as a guest solo viola of the Arktisk Filharmoni and as an academy violist of Det Norske Kammerorkester. Mr. Galante has also held principal positions with the Yale Philharmonia, Juilliard Orchestra, Juilliard Opera, New York String Orchestra Seminar, Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra, Sarasota Music Festival Orchestra and the Manhattan School of Music Pre-College Philharmonic. In addition, he serves as a guest musician with Det Norske Kammerorkester, Musethica, St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, Belgian National Orchestra, Casco Philharmonic, Norwegian Opera Orchestra, Oslo Philharmonic, O/Modernt Chamber Orchestra, Noree Chamber Soloists, Jupiter Chamber Players, Ensemble Connect and the Versoi Ensemble. Mr. Galante has worked under esteemed conductors such as Alan Gilbert, Andris Nelsons, Charles Dutoit, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Itzhak Perlman, Pablo-Heras Casado, Gianandrea Noseda, Thomas Ades, Stefan Asbury, Larry Rachleff, Nicholas McGegan, Jeffrey Milarsky, Steven Osgood and Gary Thor Wedow.

Teaching has been the foundation of Mr. Galante’s musical life for over a decade. The Galante Teaching studio has hosted a private studio in Oslo, New York, Connecticut and now Antwerp. He held the position of viola and violin professor at Pluckd Studio where he helped prepare students for music festivals, auditions and to establish a sound foundational approach to instrumental playing. While a student, Mr. Galante coached students in Juilliard’s Pre-College/MAP program and helped lead children’s concerts in Chicago, New York and Oslo.

He holds a Bachelor’s degree from the Juilliard School and a Master’s degree from Yale University. His former teachers include Heidi Castleman, Misha Amory, Lars Anders Tomter and Ettore Causa. Mr. Galante has performed in masterclasses for Cynthia Phelps, Roberto Diaz, Robert Vernon, Steven Tenenbom, James Dunham, Barbara Westphal, Hsin-Yun Huang, Kim Kashkashian, Lawrence Dutton, Miriam Fried, Peter Serkin, and Atar Arad. He plays on a viola made by Douglas Cox, on generous loan from the Virtu Foundation and was the recipient of the 2018 Presser Undergraduate Scholar Award.