Episode 52: "Keep the phrase going" - a conversation with Charles Daval

Trumpet Teacher Talk

Episode 52: "Keep the phrase going" - a conversation with Charles Daval

Trumpet player Charles Daval has held positions in some of North America’s most prestigious orchestras including the Boston Symphony, the Cincinnati Symphony and the Seattle Symphony. His principal appointments have included the Boston Pops and the Solo Trumpet position of the Montreal Symphony Orchestra. In 1993, Mr. Daval was appointed Professor of Trumpet at the University of Michigan. Mr. Daval moved to Pittsburgh in 1998 to enable his wife to accept the Principal Second Violin position in the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. Since the move he has been appointed Principal Trumpet of the Pittsburgh Opera and Pittsburgh Ballet Theater Orchestras and continues to maintain an active teaching and performing schedule. In the spring of 2008, Mr. Daval fulfilled a lifelong dream when he received the degree of Juris Doctor (Cum Laude) from the Duquesne University Law School, where he enrolled in the fall semester 2004. As a law student, Mr. Daval worked to secure benefits for Veterans and their families through his participation in the Duquesne University Veteran’s Benefits Clinic in 2006-07, and he participated in the Civil Rights Litigation Clinic at Duquesne University’s Center for the Bill of Rights. After passing the bar examination in the summer of 2008, Mr. Daval was admitted by the State Supreme Court to the bar of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. In the winter of 2009 he passed bar exams in Colorado and Wyoming, and is admitted to the bars of both states.

Highlights from his performing career include appearances on PBS broadcasts of “Evening at Pops” with conductor – composer John Williams and the Boston Pops from 1984 to 1988. In 1986, he was featured on Maryland Public Television’s “Live from Wolftrap” as cornet soloist with Keith Brion’s “New Sousa Band.” Additional appearances as soloist include concerts with the Boston Pops, the Cincinnati Pops, the Toronto Symphony, the Rochester Philharmonic, the Detroit Symphony, the Indianapolis Symphony, the Naples Philharmonic, the Seattle Symphony, and the Carmel Bach Festival. After receiving a Bachelor of Arts degree from San Jose State University, Mr. Daval went on to study with Vincent Cichowicz at Northwestern University where he earned his Masters Degree and was elected to the Pi Kappa Lambda music honor society. While in Chicago, he also performed with the Chicago Civic Orchestra and studied with Principal Trumpet of the Chicago Symphony, Adolph Herseth.

The trumpet playing of Charles Daval has been met with much critical acclaim. The San Francisco Chronicle called him “downright sensational”, and the Seattle Post-Intelligencer praised his “musical finesse and technical polish”. His performances on the piccolo trumpet at the Carmel Bach Festival hailed this response from the Monterey Peninsula Herald; “Daval’s sound is all that can be asked of the Baroque trumpeter: He is polished, accurate, and articulate.” And the San Francisco Examiner says; “He made every note a personal treasure.”

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