CHARLES M. WYATT
BIOGRAPHY
Charles Wyatt holds a Bachelor of Music degree from the Curtis Institute of Music and a Masters of Music Degree from the Philadelphia Musical Academy. His principal flute teacher was William Kincaid, solo flutist of the Philadelphia Orchestra during the Stokokowski and Ormandy eras. Charles played operas in Philadelphia, did a tour of duty with the Marine Band in Washington D.C., played New Music in Buffalo and NYC, and then, after an audition in the Detroit Airport, began a long career as the principal flutist of the Nashville Symphony and the Peninsula Music Festival.
In 1991, he earned his MFA from Warren Wilson College. Many of the stories in Listening to Mozart were begun during that time. After the publication of Listening to Mozart, Charles quit his job with the NSO, having decided that there were better things in life than being yelled at by conductors. He has since served as visiting fiction writer at Binghamton University, Denison University, the University of Central Oklahoma, Purdue University, and Oberlin College. He also teaches online courses for the UCLA Writing Program and in the low residency MFA Program at UNO.
He lives in Nashville, Tennessee with wife Cindy, standard poodle Charlotte, and coon cat Sylvester. (Charlotte is no longer an easy armful – neither is Sylvester, for that matter.) Cindy is a busy harpist and teacher and also holds an MFA from Warren Wilson College. She is the winner of the 2002 Nebraska Review Poetry Prize.
Charles and Cindy often perform together (and sometimes record
together – Celtic Harp Traditions, Green Hill Music). They may be seen early mornings in their Nashville neighborhood walking with Charlotte, who loves cats, squirrels, and bunnies equally. Sylvester does not choose to exercise.