Catherine Marie Charlton, pianist, composer, improviser

Introducing Where There Is Light by Carl Weingarten and Catherine Marie Charlton, on the Spotted Peccary record label.  GET IT NOW

A beautifully inspired reflection of nocturnal stillness,
perfect for the quiet solitude of a long winter's night.

So, this coming week I have been invited to “take over” the Brandywine River Museum of Art Instagram feed with my #wyethwalk photos for a full week.  And, it just so happens that my 250th Wyeth Walk will post on the museum’s page.  250!!

For the past two years I have been immersed in everything Wyeth.  I am amazed where this project has led me - from my piano improv roots, from the seeds of wanting to make my next piano album - to unfolding to discover the photographer inside of me and now starting to think I should write a book about my “Wyeth Walks”.

In the last two years, I’ve given numerous concerts at the Brandywine River Museum of Art, on their gorgeous Steinway piano next to floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the trees and beautiful river view.  I’ve traveled to Maine to visit the Farnsworth Museum, the Olson House (site of hundreds of Andrew Wyeth paintings), Monhegan Island (favorite site of thousands of painters over the past hundred years or more, including Jamie Wyeth), Andrew Wyeth’s grave, and most importantly - to experience the landscape so important to the family.  I spent two weeks in Wyoming at the Brush Creek Foundation for the Arts (with a landscape similar to what NC Wyeth experienced when he spent months out West painting Native Americans) - composing a Wyeth-inspired chamber work also influenced by composers Steve Reich and Jean Sibelius.  I traveled to Imaginary Road Studios in Vermont several times to record piano while overlooking a gorgeous valley of trees and working with the inspirational producer Will Ackerman (who, in an interesting life’s story actually met Andrew Wyeth and saw a painting in progress- a rare occurrence for anyone!). I’ve had the great joy of digging through the handwritten unpublished scores of composer Ann Wyeth McCoy (Andrew Wyeth’s sister) and performing and recording some of her works.  I’ve read countless books, visited numerous galleries, spent time at the historic properties of NC Wyeth and Andrew Wyeth’s studios in Chadds Ford, PA, and talked with many curators and writers familiar with the Wyeth family and their art.

But, beyond the music that I am creating, that has reached beyond what I ever dreamed of for my next piano album, what has impacted me the most are my Wyeth Walks in the Brandywine Valley.

One year ago, in January 2015, I came to an epiphany on a walk through my neighborhood - an answer to one of my composing problems came to me as I looked up at the trees.  I also realized all at once that I had been doing all this book, gallery, and interview research on the Wyeth family, but up to that point my composing for the project was more intellectual than deeply authentic from within me.  I remembered that Andrew Wyeth was known to take nature walks every day.  I later came to know that Ann Wyeth McCoy did too - and that they both had started these as children when NC Wyeth took his family walking in the meadows and woods behind their house.  I realized that this must be a deep part of their creative process, and I decided to start daily nature walks of my own.  On a whim I decided I should snap an iPhone photo on each walk and blog about my walks later.  I had just done a concert of music that influenced the artist Charles Burchfield, and had loved his nature/walk journals, and wanted to do something along those lines as well.

And here I am, 250 walks and blog posts later… there is much more to write about the spiritual impact these have had on me personally and also on my music.  I will leave that for another time… because it’s time for me to go take my daughter to pre-school!  In the meantime though, please enjoy the #wyethwalk posts on Instagram, Twitter, and Tumblr (and occasionally Facebook).  From February 1-7 all posts will be exclusively on the Brandywine River Museum of Art Instagram feed.

Also, please sign up for my monthly e-mailing list for updates on this project.  My album is coming out in 2017 in parallel with the Andrew Wyeth Centennial Exhibit at the Brandywine River Museum of Art.  I have partnered with the amazing Grammy winning producer/engineer Phil Nicolo on the project, and the music features contributions from Grammy winners, producer Will Ackerman and cellist David Darling, as well as many other amazing musicians… I can’t wait to share more with you!

"...a crystalline style of playing directly or indirectly influenced by Jacques Loussier, Bill Evans and Keith Jarrett, among others. That influence is far from an afterthought on this self-released album: it is an integral part of her playing ...Charlton also soars on tango legend Astor Piazzolla’s “Adios, Nonino”..."

- Alex Henderson, The New York City Jazz Record

Deeply grateful to Raul da Gama/Jazz Da Gama for his review of Maiden's Voyage:

"This is a remarkable record. Each score contains richly expressive material that tests the concentration of the performer. As led by meticulous attention to rhythm, balance and harmonic implications, Catherine Marie Charlton produces performances that are fresh, articulate and extremely poised. Each is a marvel of liquid flow amid vast reservoirs of sound..."

Read the full review