Charles Noble

Acting Principal/Assistant Principal violist

What convinced you that you wanted a career in music?

Simply knowing that it was possible. I was taking a summer chamber music course playing violin after my sophomore year, and I asked the coach—who later became my first viola teacher—if I could make a go of it as a violist. She said she believed that it was possible and the rest was history.

What is on your CD player right now?

Kim Kashkashian, one of the preeminent violists performing today, has an album of Spanish songs transcribed for viola and piano with pianist Robert Levin. The Hagen Quartet—one of my favorite groups—playing Dvorak’s great Op. 105 string quartet. No one ever plays it, and I can’t understand why, because it’s a major masterpiece. Finally, Roberto Diaz my last teacher playing transcriptions made by William Primrose on the instrument that was formerly owned by Primrose—immaculate, impassioned, virtuoso performances by a great teacher and great person.

How did you choose your instrument?

I was seduced by the viola, really. It was kind of blind date: a violist was needed to fill out a chamber ensemble, and I was asked to do it at the last moment. I was bewitched from the first notes I managed to scrape out of the beater instrument the college owned. Shortly thereafter I decided to pursue a career in music, and have never looked back!

What is on your nightstand?

Alex Ross’ The Rest is Noise - Listening to the Twentieth Century. A wonderful, lucid, empathetic look at the cross-relations of composers and history in our most turbulent and fast moving century to date. I also have been working my way through the complete works of the wonderful Japanese novelist Haruki Murakami. Of his works I’ve most enjoyed The Wind-Up Bird Chronicles and Kafka on the Shore.

What guest artist would you most like to perform with?

Of our recent guest artists, I’d most like to play sonatas with Stephen Hough. He’s got such an amazing musical mind, and his interpretations always leave me thinking about even the most familiar works in new ways.  

Besides your instrument, what is your most treasured possession?

It certainly isn’t a possession, as such, but my relationship with my wife Heather, now going on 14 years, is my most treasured asset in life. Our mutual love and respect for each other and our shared passion for music make my life rich beyond measure.