Charles “plays classical violin with the charisma of a rock star” (Boston Globe). He received the Leonard Bernstein Award in 2018. The Juilliard graduate has performed as a soloist with orchestras and in concert in the United States, Europe, Brazil, Russia, China, and Taiwan. In 2016 Charles joined the crossover string band, Time for Three. His improvisational abilities on violin, electric violin, and as a vocalist have led him to featured performances in the Aspen, Moab, Schleswig-Holstein, Ravinia, and Crested Butte Music Festivals, the Cayman Arts Festival, the YouTube Music Awards, TED, Caramoor, the EG Conference, Google Zeitgeist, Interlochen, and onstage at Carnegie Hall, Alice Tully Hall, Lincoln Center’s Metropolitan Opera House, David H. Koch Theater, Dizzy’s, David Rubinstein Atrium, The Long Center, Rudolfinum, The Royal Danish Theatre, Le Poisson Rouge, Highline Ballroom, Ars Nova, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, and The Forbidden City in Beijing among many others. He has shared the stage with artists including Peter Dugan, CDZA, Steve Miller, Jesse Colin Young, Jake Shimabukuro, Ray Benson, Michael Gordon, Marcelo Gomes, Savion Glover, Twyla Tharp, Misty Copeland, and Jon Batiste. The Texas Observer has noted, “Mr. Yang is a true crossover artist, a pioneer who can hop between classical and popular music and bring fresh ideas to fans of both genres. Rather than maintaining an insular focus and simply assuming that an audience for classical music will always exist, he wants to actively create that audience, to persuade and seduce others into enjoying a type of music as passionately as he does.”
