Charles Wiffen, born in London and educated in Johannesburg, Charles Wiffen has performed extensively throughout the UK and South Africa, as well as in Belgium, China, France, Germany, Japan, Israel, Italy, Spain, Taiwan and the USA. He has given recitals in London’s Wigmore Hall and Purcell Room, and in Manchester’s Bridgewater Hall, and his festival appearances have included the Arundel, Brighton, Bath, BBC Proms, Buckingham, Chelsea and Warwick Festivals. He has also performed in the Park Lane Group series in London and was selected by the late Isaac Stern to perform in ‘Jerusalem Encounters’. Charles has broadcast for BBC Radio 3 and Classic FM and has recorded several CDs for labels including Toccata Classics. He has performed with a number of distinguished chamber music partners including the cellist Yo-Yo Ma.

Charles has been Visiting Professor of Music at Shanghai University and Dean of Music and Performing Arts at Bath Spa University and previously lectured at the Royal College of Music and at Trinity Laban in London. He has taught at a number of summer schools including Dartington International Summer School and Curso Internacional de Musica Vitoria-Gasteiz in Spain.

Charles studied at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, and at the Royal College of Music in London. His teachers included Pauline Nossel, Maria Curcio and Yonty Solomon and he also took part in classes with Emanuel Ax, Boris Berman, Yefim Bronfman, and Steven de Groote. Awards include the Oude Meester Music Prize, the Jim Joel Prize and the Marjorie and Arnold Ziff Memorial Prize.