About

Dr. Charles Hopkins is the Lecturer of Applied Trombone at Scottsdale and Paradise Valley Community College, and the instructor of trombone at Phoenix jazz venue, The Nash. For the Spring 2015 semester, he was the Visiting Assistant Professor of Trombone at the State University of New York, at Potsdam, where he taught twenty three music, trombone majors. He has appeared as a guest clinician for the Arizona Chamber Music Experience and Arizona School for the Arts and is the staff trombone instructor for Campo Verde High School in Gilbert, Arizona.

Dr. Hopkins has a varied career as a classical and jazz musician. As a freelance musician in Arizona, Dr. Hopkins regularly performs as substitute tenor and bass trombonist with the Phoenix Symphony, the Tucson Symphony Orchestra, Ballet Arizona, and the Arizona Opera Orchestra. Charles served as acting second trombonist with The Phoenix Symphony for the 2013/14 season, performing with guest artists such as John Williams, JoAnn Falletta, Lang Lang, Bill Conti, the Indigo Girls, Brian Stokes Mitchell, Ann Hampton Callaway, and Matthew Morrison. He is currently a regular member of the Phoenix-area salsa band, Jaleo.

Dr. Hopkins has appeared as a sideman with artists including the Johnny Mathis, Tito Nieves, Temptations, Four Tops, Natalie Cole, Patti Austin, the Smothers Brothers, Wayne Newton, and the Boston Brass. He was a member of the pit orchestra for the National Tour of Chicago, the Musical (Spring, 2015) at Gammage Auditorium and performed in Broadway productions at Phoenix Theatre (The Wizard of OZ 2015, Chicago, the Musical 2015, Mary Poppins 2014/15, Les Miserables 2014, La Cage Aux Folles 2013, Gypsy 2012, Les Miserables, Company 2009, The Full Monty, The Producers 2008), Paradise Valley Community College (Spam-a-lot 2015, The Drowsy Chaperone 2013), Xavier College Preparatory (Mary Poppins 2015), the Herberger Theater (Blackbeard 2008), and the Broadway Palm (Anything Goes 2008, Swing 2007). From 2009 to 2012, he spent the hot Arizona Summer and Fall months performing in the show bands of Celebrity and Azamara Club Cruises.

Charles holds a Doctor of Musical Arts and a Master of Music degree in trombone performance from Arizona State University, and a Bachelor's degree in trombone performance from the University of Hawaii. His primary instructors included world-renowned tubists and pedagogues Sam Pilafian and Patrick Sheridan, Tucson Symphony principal trombonist Michael Becker, former principal trombonist of the Honolulu Symphony James Decker, and Arizona State University Professor Emeritus Gail Eugene Wilson.

Need to hire a trombone player or brass group for your event or concert and want to book me? Please email charles.trombone@gmail.com.