He is a violinist and violist who started out learning the violin at Marianapolis College in Montreal, Canada and earned his Bachelor of Music degree at McGill University before taking the advanced studies program in Los Angeles at the University of Southern California. He then took further studies on the viola in Saltzburg, Austria at the Mozarteum University.
He performed as a violinist in the first violin section with Orchestra London (Ontario) from 2004 to 2005 before becoming Assistant Principal Violist with the Edmonton Symphony in 2005. He remained with the ESO for 11 seasons before joining the viola section of the L’Orchestre Symphonique de Montreal in 2016 as the Viola 2nd Assistant.
As a soloist he has performed with orchestras that include the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra, the Alberta Baroque Orchestra and in Hamilton, Ontario with the National Academy Orchestra.
As a chamber musician he co-founded Enterprise Quartett in 2009 and has performed with the University of Alberta String Quartet in around 30 concerts per season.
In 2015 he and the organist Jeremy Spurgeon commissioned Sonata for Viola & Piano by Robert Rival with support from the Alberta Foundation of the Arts.
Recordings he has performed on include La Science Du Coeur by Pierre Lapointe, Like It Or Not by Bob Malone and Histoire Sans Paroles by L’Orchestre Symphonique De Montreal.
Sources:
- https://musicbythesea.ca/portfolio-posts/charles-pilon/
- https://albertabaroque.com/2019-2020-season/charles-pilon-viola/
- https://www.osm.ca/en/charles-pilon/
- https://themontrealeronline.com/2021/10/a-multitude-of-quartet-colours-musicians-of-the-osm-performing-at-bourgie-hall/
- https://www.winspearcentre.com/tommy-banks-centre/music-teacher-directory/strings/
- http://guillaume.tardif.com/enterprise/charlespilon.html
- https://enterprisequartet.com/2012/09/09/photos-sept9-12/crw_4222_rj/
- https://robertrival.com/sonata_viola.shtml
- https://www.discogs.com/ja/artist/6049192-Charles-Pilon