Norman Charette

Background

Norman Charette is a pianist from Lowell, Massachusetts. Although he had some
music lessons as a child, it was not until the age of 19 that he began to start practicing the
piano seriously. In 2012, he left his job as a software engineer to pursue studies in music,
earning a Master of Music degree from the Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University,
Bloomington, in 2016. He is currently a candidate for the Doctorate of Musical Arts in
Piano at James Madison University. His primary piano teachers have included Paulo
Steinberg, Evelyne Brancart, Edmund Battersby, and Tatiana Yampolsky, and he has
taken lessons or masterclasses with Jean Saulnier, Lee Phillips, Reiko Neriki, and Edlina
Dubinsky.

Norman has performed across the United States, and most recently, a trip to China
included a performance as a soloist in the 2024 “Bond with Kuliang” China-US Youth
Festival in the city of Fuzhou, Fujian. His playing has been described as passionate and
virtuosic, and Tobias Picker (composer and former Artistic Director of Tulsa Opera)
described his performance of Old and Lost Rivers as “most sensitive” and “expressive.”
As a recording artist, he has recorded works by many of his favorite composers, including
Claude Debussy, Frederic Chopin, Tobias Picker, and Orlando Fagnani. His latest CD
album features the first complete recordings of Brazilian composer Orlando Fagnani's
(1922-1977) solo piano music.

Norman is currently an adjunct professor of piano at The College of William &
Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia. He has previously served as an instructor of keyboard
skills at James Madison University, and also worked as an accompanist for undergraduate
and graduate instrumental students. At Indiana University, he worked as a practice coach
for the Indiana University Summer Piano Academy. In addition to his work in a
university setting, he maintains a large studio of private students in the DC area.