Charlie Chadwell is an active saxophonist, chamber musician, and educator. He currently teaches as Assistant Professor of Saxophone at Western Illinois University and serves as Director of Professional Activities for The College Music Society. Chadwell is a founding member of the Camerata Nova Contemporary Woodwind Quintet and serves as Artistic & Development Co-Coordinator.
Virginia Tech Wind Festival Residency, Fall 2025
This fall Camerata Nova served as the ensemble-in-residence for the Virginia Tech 2025 Wind Festival. Here’s a snippet from a recital we performed there.
Meri, composed by Katherine Pukinskis, was commissioned by Camerata Nova in fall 2024 and received an International Double Reed Society “50 for 50” Commissioning Grant.
Too Many Streets Will Kill Us, Matt Mason (2025)
In spring 2025 Camerata Nova performed at The College Music Society Great Lakes Conference in Chicago, where we met composer Matt Mason. Sharing our excitement for the novelty and expressive potential of the contemporary woodwind quintet, Matt wrote us this work, Too Many Streets Will Kill Us, which was premiered in October.
Code of Conduct for Alto Saxophone and Wind Ensemble (2023) by James Stephenson
Last spring I worked closely with WIU Director of Bands Mike Fansler on a consortium to commission composer Jim Stephenson to write a concerto for saxophone and wind ensemble. Together we recruited twelve other saxophonists and wind ensembles from around the country for this consortium, and I gave the world premiere of Code of Conduct in May 2023 with the WIU Wind Ensemble. Take a listen!
Far from the Tree (2022) by Jim Caldwell
In fall of 2022, I collaborated with retired WIU faculty member and composer Jim Caldwell to create Far from the Tree, a work for alto saxophone and electronics. Jim and I recorded this work in November 2022 in order to submit it for performance at the Electronic Music Midwest (EMM) conference. The recording here is a live performance from the EMM 2023 festival.
WIU Faculty Recital, Spring 2022
In spring of 2022, I collaborated with a number of WIU faculty to put together an eclectic mix of works. This recital featured Joanne Chang, piano, Rick Kurasz, vibraphone, and Eric Ginsberg, clarinet. The program includes the following: