Charles Young

Charles Rochester Young (b. 1965) has won high praises and honors for his work as a composer. His major awards include: First prize in the National Flute Association New Publications Competition, First Prize in the National Band Association/Merrill Jones Composition Competition, Second prize in the 1990 Fischoff Competition, Second prize in the National Association of Composers in the USA Young Composers Competition, Prize winner in the Vienna Modern Masters Competition and financial awards from ASCAP (for the unique prestige value of his original works), The National Endowment for the Arts, Meet the Composer, The Aaron Copland Foundation, The Minnesota Composers Forum, The Presser Foundation and Arts Midwest. Dr. Young has received commissions from members of the Boston Symphony, Detroit Symphony, and the New York Philharmonic; from organizations such as the Green Bay Civic Symphony and the Big 12 Band Directors Association; and from luminaries such as Keiko Abe and Donald Sinta. Dr. Young's works have been performed and broadcasted in Europe, Japan, Central America, Canada, and in major halls in the United States, including Lincoln Center and Carnegie Hall. Recently, Dr. Young's works have been performed at: Music Educators National Convention, World Saxophone Congress, College Band Directors Convention, International ClarinetFest, National Flute Association Convention, Montreux Jazz Festival, Midwest Band and Orchestra Clinic, North American Saxophone Alliance National Convention, World Harp Congress, and other national, regional and statewide assemblies. A native of the United States, Dr. Young is a graduate of the University of Michigan, where he held as his mentors: Pulitzer prize-winner Leslie Bassett, Donald Sinta, Keith Hill and Marianne Ploger. Currently, Dr. Young is the Chair of Composition and Music Theory at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point. Previously, Dr. Young served on the faculty at the Interlochen Center for the Arts. The University of Wisconsin System named Dr. Young a Wisconsin Teaching Fellow in 1997 and he was selected as a finalist for the University of Wisconsin System Career Teaching Excellence Award in 1999 and winner of that award in 2000. In 1999, Dr. Young was named "Wisconsin Professor of the Year" by the Carnegie Foundation and the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education was nominated for a national award with those same organizations in 2000.