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Charles Wadsworth
Charles Wadsworth, a celebrated, living legend in the world of music, was the founding Artistic Director of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center and led it for twenty years - from 1969 to 1989, creating a concept of programming for varied instruments and voice that brought chamber music to the popularity it has today and led to the profusion of chamber music festivals throughout the U.S. and worldwide. His inclusion of major soloists with a nucleus of permanent artists inspired a new generation of virtuoso musicians to perform chamber music. Wadsworth also instituted a commissioning program, which produced important and frequently performed works from a wide range of composers including Barber, Bernstein, Menotti, Bolcom, Boulez and Corigliano.
For fifty years, Charles Wadsworth was a favorite at the Spoleto Festivals, first in Italy and then in Charleston, SC, as Artistic Director for Chamber Music, where he both performed as pianist and was the much-loved host of the daily concerts at the Dock Street Theater. He also was the artistic director of annual concert series presented in Old Lyme, CT, Beaufort, Columbia and Camden SC, and in Savannah, Georgia. For twelve years, he toured as partner in concerts with Beverly Sills. In 2007, he founded the acclaimed Festival Internacional de Musica in Cartagena, Colombia.
Deciding to relinquish these responsibilities at the age of 80, Wadsworth continues to perform chamber music as Guest Artist, in concerts with his Charles Wadsworth and Friends group, in programs with individual artists and in lectures-with-performance nationally.
Wadsworth has performed at the White House for four Presidents: Kennedy, Nixon, Carter and Reagan, and has been honored by France as a Chevalier in the Order of Arts and Letters and by Italy as a Cavaliere Ufficiale in the Order of Merit. He has been awarded New York's Handel Medallion, South Carolina's Order of the Palmetto and the Elizabeth O'Neill Verner Award, and honorary doctorates from the University of South Carolina, Converse College and Connecticut College. His hometown, Newnan, Georgia, restored and named the municipal auditorium for him. He is married to Susan Wadsworth, the founder of Young Concert Artists, Inc.
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