Violinist Tanya Charles has a varied career that might see her perform as a guest soloist with an orchestra one day, teach at the University of Toronto, and then check in on a string education program in the Caribbean the next.
She’ll be performing with the Cathedral Bluffs Symphony Orchestra on November 16 for their concert titled Affairs of the Heart, even as she’s doubling in the orchestra pit for the Mirvish production of The Lion King.
We spoke to her about the violin, Affairs of the Heart by Marjan Mozetich, and more.
Tanya Charles, violin
Tanya Charles is a native of Hamilton, Ontario, with family roots in the Caribbean in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. She earned a Bachelor of Music (Performance) from the University of Toronto, and an Artist Diploma (Orchestral Performance) from the Glenn Gould School.
Her many accolades include the Women’s Art Associate of Canada – Luella McCleary Award, the Gabriella Dory Prize in Music, and the Hamilton Black History Association’s John C Holland Award.
But, violin didn’t come first in her musical journey.
“I was a piano person. My entry point was piano when I was three,” she says.
Her introduction to the violin came via a special strings program held in the Hamilton school system when she was about 10. The director of the program came to her school to demonstrate, and it struck her as soon as she got a look at the instrument.
“Hey that looks pretty tricky. I’m gonna try that.” It was a natural fit, one that she took to immediately. “It flew into my hands, and the notes flew out of my fingers.”
Tanya was still studying piano as well, but at the undergrad level, she made the choice.
“It was a no brainer for me that violin would be my expression.” While the fit feels natural, the possibilities are endless. “I feel sometimes like everyday, I’m learning something new about the instrument.” She stresses that music study is a lifelong study.
“The way you appreciate the instrument, it’s a lifelong process.”
Her performing career has led her across North and South America, and the Caribbean. Today, along with her appearances as a soloist, she is the founding and current concertmaster of the Montreal-based Obiora Ensemble, and regularly performs as a member of Ensemble du Monde (Guadeloupe), Toronto Mozart Players, and the Odin Quartet.
Coming Up: Marjan Mozetich — Affairs of the Heart
With CBSO, she’ll be performing Marjan Mozetich’s Affairs of the Heart (1997). Also on the bill is Jocelyn Morlock’s My Name is Amanda Todd and Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 6 to close out the concert.
Affairs of the Heart, not surprisingly, is composed in a very expressive style.
“It is a concerto for violin and orchestra,” Tanya explains. Without separate movements per se, it’s through composed, and progresses by moods.
The music explores the states of the human heart, hence, its wide ranging expression, which incorporates moments of explosive emotion, and timidity, and everything in between. “You find yourself in a different state at the end of the exploration,” she says.
“It’s a very interesting work,” she says, describing it as “minimalistic” in style. “There’s an ebb and a flow, but a constant motor, and [it’s] smooth flowing, like water.”
It’s technically quite difficult; even more so in that the technique comes out as pure expression.
“The difficulty about it as well is the stamina,” she says. “There are a lot of notes, and a lot of patterns — they don’t always fall so great into the hands,” she laughs. “It challenges me on how to approach the instrument,” she adds. “It’s very tricky.”
It may sound contradictory, but to play such a demanding piece, it’s necessary to find the ease. “The musical side is the part that comes out easily,” she says. “You don’t think about how hard it is to play.”
The difficulty, if played correctly, is lost on the audience. “In that same vein, looking beyond the notes you see on the page, and trying to make something of it, is the difficulty.”
Next Steps
Tanya is a passionate educator, and often serves as a string adjudicator and clinician. She is a sessional lecturer at the University of Toronto – Faculty of Music, and Royal Conservatory of Music (Oscar Peterson Program). She calls the latter a “perfect fit”.
For more than a decade, she has helped to implement a string-education program in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. As she points out, string programs can be difficult to implement in the region due to the climate, which makes storing such instruments a challenge. “I’ve taught in Mexico before,” she says, as a fluent speaker of Spanish.
Other work includes a recent appearance in an ad campaign for BDC, a bank for entrepreneurs, that ran across Canada. The Lion King, performing on both violin and viola, will take up a chunk of time, and the Odin Quartet will be embarking on their first international tour in January 2025.
Toronto audiences will have a chance to hear her soon.
- Find out more about her upcoming concert with the Cathedral Bluffs Symphony Orchestra on November 16 [HERE].
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