Charles Castleman is a man of many interests, many facets
ACADEMIC:
He graduated Harvard, followed by a graduate degree from The University of Pennsylvania and published essays on Renaissance madrigals + 19th century performer-composers.
Expert on Hungarian music, due to his Emanuel Ondricek and Eugen Lehner training and wide-ranging personal research, his CD of the “Scenes from the Csarda” by Jeno Hubay with the Eastman Chamber Orchestra was released by Music and Arts. Hubay was both a historic violinist and very influential musician, who trained Solti, Szell, Lipati, Szigeti, Sebok, and Starker, and hired Bartok, Dohnanyi, Kodaly in his capacity as Director Liszt Academy in Budapest . Brahms greatly valued him; almost all Brahms chamber music first was tried out in Budapest with Hubay and Popper at house-concerts before the Viennese official premieres
ADMINISTRATIVE:
50 years ago, not long out of school, given $1500 and a handful of scholarships in April, he recruited 9 string quartets by July to attend a 8-week workshop in chamber music and group dynamics at Saratoga, NY he named The Quartet Program. later renamed The Castleman Quartet Program. On its website http://quartetprogram.com alumni who have maintained contact with Charles Castleman are listed by profession: 260 members of major orchestras, 133 college teachers, 118 members of professionally active chamber groups,:49 section leaders of “A” and “B” orchestras, 26 in arts management, 19 in the medical arts, 15 lawyers, 14 in business and finance, 9 in the recording and film industry, and soloists, motivational speakers, engineers and luthiers.
In 1995, for a season, a satellite program for String Quartets ready for management took place in Vail Colorado. A QUARTET PROGRAM for European and American Conservatory graduates took place in late August in Oberwart, Austria;
MANAGEMENT OF MULTIPLE CAREERS:
Perhaps the most successful current artist at combining two equal careers as major teacher and performer, Charles Castleman manages national and international tours without students going even a week without lessons:-lessons at beginning one week + end of next, never less than 5 days apart
AVOCATIONS:
Bicycles 20-30 miles every day
well-known as collector of (1) violin bows (2) Inuit (Canadian Eskimo) sculpture