Charles Noble
Assistant Principal Viola
Maybelle Clark Macdonald Fund Principal Viola Chair
Charles Noble joined the Oregon Symphony as Assistant Principal Viola in 1995. He studied at the University of Puget Sound, the University of Maryland, and the Peabody Institute of Johns Hopkins University. His primary teachers were Joyce Ramée, Joseph de Pasquale, Michael Tree, and Roberto Díaz. Charles has won several prizes and awards, including the C.D. Jackson Award at the Tanglewood Music Center, the Israel Dorman Memorial Award at Peabody, and first prize at the Ladies Musical Club of Seattle Frances Walton Competition.
Outside of the Oregon Symphony, Charles plays with the Oregon Bach Festival orchestra (since 1996), and has performed in the Willamette Valley Chamber Music Festival since 2018. Other festival appearances include the 2015 Bang on a Can Marathon in New York City, and 2002, 2004, and 2006 International Viola Society annual Congresses.
In addition to his orchestral work, Charles is an active chamber musician. He is a performer and board member with 45th Parallel Universe and violist of the Pyxis Quartet.
He plays a 1994 Gabrielle Kundert viola and a 2018 bow by Darrell Hanks.