Charles Tucker leads a dual life as attorney and cellist. He grew up in Boulder, Colorado, where he studied cello with Eugene Hilligoss. He lived in New Mexico for six years, working with Joanna de Keyser at the University of New Mexico. He received his master’s and doctoral degrees from Yale University, studying cello with Aldo Parisot, orchestral repertoire and conducting with Otto-Werner Mueller, and string quartets with the Tokyo Quartet. Mr. Tucker performed chamber music concerts at Merkin Hall and the 92nd Street Y in New York City and appeared as both performer and arranger on recordings by the Yale Cellos.

After completing his graduate studies, Mr. Tucker spent four years as an assistant professor of music at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, where he taught cello, chamber ensembles, music theory, and graduate seminars in twentieth-century chamber music and the Beethoven String Quartets. Moving to Ohio, he was a cellist in the Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra, under conductor Keith Lockhart, and in the Dayton Philharmonic. In the mid-1990’s Mr. Tucker was principal cellist of the Naples (Florida) Philharmonic, where he had the great pleasure of performing with Scottish conductor Christopher Seaman. For several years Mr. Tucker also hosted the What To Listen For In Music lecture series at the Philharmonic Center for the Arts in Naples.

Many of Mr. Tucker’s most fulfilling musical experiences have taken place at summer festivals and in solo appearances. He performed for five summers in the Santa Fe Opera, for one summer at the Bayview (Michigan) Music Festival, and for five summers in the orchestra of the Grand Teton Music Festival. He was a finalist in the East and West Artists Competition in New York and spent ten days in Paris with cellists from around the world at the Rostropovich Cello Competition. Mr. Tucker’s solo appearances with orchestra have included performances of Ernest Bloch’s Schelomo, John Tavener’s The Protecting Veil, and, with the Fort Collins Symphony in February 2007, C.P.E. Bach’s A Major Concerto. Mr. Tucker has played twice in master classes for world-famous cellist Yo-Yo Ma, who is one of the nicest people he has ever met.

The physical demands on active performers, like those on professional gymnasts or other athletes, can often become troublesome. In Mr. Tucker’s case, arthritis took its toll on his ability to perform full time, and in 1997 he embarked on a new career in law. After graduating from William Mitchell College of Law in St. Paul, Minnesota, he was hired by District Judge Arnaud Newton of Fort Collins to be the Judge’s law clerk. After a year and a half with the Judge, Mr. Tucker joined the law firm of Frey, Korb, Haggerty & Michaels in Fort Collins. He is a member of the Colorado Bar Association and Colorado Lawyers for the Arts, and he served for two years on the board of the Rocky Mountain Youth Orchestra. In January 2007, he and Mark Korb formed the law firm of Korb Tucker PLLC, practicing primarily in the areas of business law, construction law, wills and probate, estate planning, real estate, and civil litigation.

Mr. Tucker has been principal cellist of the Fort Collins Symphony since September 2000 and stays busy with orchestra and chamber music performances. His wife Heidi Mausbach is principal cellist of the Greeley Philharmonic, assistant principal cellist of the Cheyenne Symphony, and maintains a full studio of cello students.

Visit www.KorbTuckerAttorneys.com

To email Charles, CLICK HERE