Charles Tucker is a rising senior at Vanderbilt University, where he is pursuing a double major in viola performance and mathematics. He studies viola under Kathryn Plummer at Vanderbilt’s Blair School of Music, and he has played in masterclasses for many accomplished musicians and teachers, including Lynne Ramsey, Ann Marie Brink, Elias Goldstein, and Edgar Meyer. He has also attended the Meadowmount School of Music, where he studied with Patricia McCarty, and the NSO Summer Music Institute, where he studied with Tsuna Sakamoto.

A former student of Elizabeth O’Hara Stahr, Charles performed with the Northern Virginia Regional Orchestra and the All-Virginia Orchestra while in high school. In 2019, he received the McLean High School Philharmonic Orchestra Director’s Award, after serving for several years as the orchestra’s principal violist. He is also an ardent chamber musician; as a former member of the 9th Street Chamber Music program, he enjoys collaborating with his former colleagues and coaches from the program to this day.

Aside from playing viola, Charles enjoys teaching math and music to younger students. He is also a composer; his pieces Where Are We? (for two flutes) and An Overworld Theme (for string quartet) have been premiered by fellow students at the Blair School of Music.