American conductor Charles Prince studied with Leonard Bernstein, Seiji Ozawa, Gustav Meier, and Kurt Sanderling through the Tanglewood Conducting Seminar (1988 and 1989), after earning his Bachelor of Arts degree in music history and theory from Oberlin College. While a student at Oberlin, Prince began his conducting training with Robert Page of The Cleveland Orchestra. He also works extensively with one of Europe’s most eminent conductors (and teacher of conductors), Jorma Panula, in Helsinki.
Charles’ most recent concerts in 2009 have taken place in Austria and the Gettysburg Festival Inaugural Concert at the Gettysburg Majestic Theatre (June 2008). He has also recently participated in Leroy Anderson Birthday tribute concerts, WDR Radio Orchestra Cologne (November 2007) and Klagenfurt Stadttheater New Year’s Eve Gala, Klagenfurt, Austria (December 2007.)
Associate Conductor of the New York Pops from 1996-2003, Charles Prince is part of the new generation of acclaimed American conductors. In addition to his work with The New York Pops, Prince has been a frequent guest conductor with the WDR Orchestra (CologneEssen, Gemany), the Bavarian Radio Orchestra (Munich, Germany), the Munich Symphony Orchestra, and the Sofia (Bulgaria) Philharmonic Orchestra. He was music director of the Tony Award winning production of James Joyce’s The Dead on Broadway and in Los Angeles and Washington, D.C. As a conductor of Stephen Sondheim’s music, Prince led the Brooklyn Philharmonic in a 1999 gala concert weekend at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, and the London Philharmonic’s Sondheim Tonight tribute at the Barbican, which was later
issued as a recording. In 1995, he led the Munich Radio Orchestra in its performance and recording of a gala concert for Hal Prince. He previously served as the Second Kapellmeister of Germany's Gorlitz Opera House. Other guest conducting appearances have been with the Verbier Festival, Utah Opera Festival, Oregon Symphony Orchestra, Circle Repertory Company, Roanoke Symphony Orchestra, and Musiktheater der Stadt Coburg.
In 2006, Mr. Prince was invited to conduct the New Year's Eve Gala of the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra, and appeared with The Canadian Brass in a Pops Concert for the Lubbock Symphony Orchestra in Texas. His 2006 season also included a Leonard Bernstein gala in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania’s Majestic Theater hosted by Jamie Bernstein.
In 2004 he made his debut with the Seattle Symphony and in 2005 he conducted the Plainfield (NJ) Symphony's Gala Concert celebrating its 85th season, and made a return engagement with the Oregon Symphony.
Charles Prince collaborates with many of the current generation of composers and he showcased the music of Jason Robert Brown, Ricky Ian Gordon, Adam Guettel and Michael John LaChiusa in a 2000 New York Pops concert. He conducted Ricky Ian Gordon's Only Heaven offBroadway in 2001 and the world premiere of Gordon's The Tibetan Book of the Dead: A Liberation Through Hearing in Houston and Philadelphia (1996). That same year, Prince also led the world premiere of Richard Peaslee's The Snow Queen, a New York State Theatre Institute production based on the Hans Christian Anderson tale.
In Spring 2003, Prince displayed his versatility in several projects; Prince was musical director of the world premiere of Proust's My Life with Albertine at Playwrights Horizons with music by Ricky Ian Gordon while organizing and producing a highly successful New York performance of two rarely heard works by Arnold Schoenberg, Pierrot Lunaire and Ode to Napoleon, with soprano Marni Nixon and instrumental ensemble. He also conducted the world premiere of a suite from Bemstein's 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue with The New York Pops. Highlights of Mr. Prince's recent seasons included a collaboration with the Moscow Symphony in Russia leading the orchestra in Sibelius' Fourth Symphony, Strauss' Till Eulenspiegel and Debussy's La Mer. He also conducted a concert performance of a new opera entitled Raoul based on the life of Raoul Wallenberg starring Jerry Hadley at the Goethe Institute in New York City. Recently, Charles Prince was engaged to conduct the Kuopio Symphony in Finland and he performs in Europe throughout each year.
In June 2009, Mr. Prince was named as the new music director of the Wiener Operettensommer in Vienna, Austria.
