Charlie Vernon

Biography

Charlie Vernon began his orchestral career in September 1971 as basstrombonist with the Baltimore Symphony. In 1980 he performed one seasonwith the San Francisco Symphony, before being chosen by Riccardo Muti toplay bass trombone with the Philadelphia Orchestra, where he played forfive seasons. Charlie joined the legendary brass section of the ChicagoSymphony Orchestra in 1986.A native of Asheville, North Carolina, Charlie attended BrevardCollege and Georgia State University, where he studied with Bill Hill aswell as Gail Wilson, professor of trombone at Arizona State University.His mentor/teachers were Arnold Jacobs and Edward Kleinhammer,respectively former tuba and bass trombone of the Chicago Symphony.Charlie Vernon makes many solo and teaching appearances throughoutthe world and has served on the faculties of Catholic University,Brevard Music Center, Philadelphia College of Performing Arts, RooseveltUniversity, the Curtis Institute, and Northwestern University.Currently, he is Professor of Trombone at DePaul University in Chicago.In April 1991, with the Chicago Symphony under Daniel Barenboim, hegave the world premiere of Ellen Taaffe Zwilich's Concerto for BassTrombone, which was commissioned by the Orchestra for its centennial. InSeptember 2006, he and the CSO premiered Chick a' Bone Checkout, avirtuoso concerto for the alto, tenor and bass trombones and orchestra, written by composer-trombonist Christian Lindberg.Charlie and his talented wife, Alison, have performed together formany Euopean and American audiences and have commissioned several songcycles for soprano, trombone and piano by the American composer EricEwazen. Charlie and Alison have two sons - Mark, who is a professionalvideo game designer, and Gary, who is a college student.As a part-time athlete, Charlie is an avid swimmer and a member ofthe Evanston Masters Swim Team. He comments, "As time passes, I realizethat I must keep doing it, so that I can KEEP doing it!"