Charles Villarrubia

Charles Villarrubia serves as Senior Lecturer in tuba and chamber music at The University of Texas at Austin’s Butler School of Music. Mr. Villarrubia is a native of New Orleans, Louisiana and received his degrees in music performance from Louisiana State University and Boston University. He has been a member of the Waterloo Festival Orchestra and the Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra. In addition to his duties at The University of Texas, Mr. Villarrubia also serves on the faculty of the Brevard Music Center where he holds the position of principal tuba with the Brevard Music Center Orchestra. His primary teachers include Joe Hebert, Neal Tidwell, Larry B. Campbell, Arnold Jacobs, and Sam Pilafian.

Mr. Villarrubia toured internationally for five years with the Dallas Brass and is a founding member (1993) of Rhythm & Brass. His performances with Rhythm & Brass include extensive domestic tours and several trips to Japan, the Middle East, Canada, Thailand and the US Virgin Islands as well as being featured at the International Trumpet Guild Conference in Sydney, Australia in 2010. The group has also performed as guest soloists with numerous symphony orchestras including those in Rochester, Grand Rapids, Phoenix, Colorado Springs, Oregon, Tucson, and the United States Air Force Orchestra in Washington, D.C. Rhythm & Brass, described by Entertainment Weekly as "...deliciously off-centered" and by the American Record Guide as “...nothing short of stunning,” has produced six recordings representing a wide variety of musical styles. More Money Jungle...Ellington Explorations (Koch Jazz), was named by the New York Times as “Album of the Week” in May of 1999. Sitting in an English Garden has Rhythm & Brass venturing into the music of the Beatles, Led Zeppelin, and Pink Floyd. Their latest recording, Inside the Blue Suitcase, features original compositions by the members of R&B. All R&B recordings are available on iTunes and other online services.

Mr. Villarrubia has performed in concert and presented clinics and master classes at hundreds of colleges, universities, and conservatories across the country, as well as at the New York Brass Conference, the Rafael Mendez Brass Institute, Bands of America, the Brevard Music Center, the Great American Brass Band Festival, MENC national and regional conventions, and the Music Educators Associations of Georgia, Oklahoma, Montana, Minnesota, Florida, Iowa, Texas, and New York.

In 1984 he was awarded first prize in the T.U.B.A. orchestral competition, becoming the first individual to win that award. While in Boston, Mr. Villarrubia frequently performed with the Boston Symphony Orchestra and the Boston Pops Orchestras and has recorded with the latter of those ensembles.

A staunch advocate of student involvement in chamber music, Mr. Villarrubia has authored a chamber music method book called Team Play With Rhythm & Brass – a guide to making chamber music. The book gives the student and educator a blueprint on how to start and maintain a successful chamber ensemble. He has also written articles on the subject and been a guest lecturer at the Mid-West Band and Orchestra Clinic and the Music Educators National Convention. Charles has premiered no fewer than five new works for the tuba, several of which he commissioned.

In the spring of 2011 Mr. Villarrubia and Dr. Robert Carnochan, Associate Director of Bands at The University of Texas at Austin, commissioned Donald Grantham to compose a new work for solo tuba and orchestral winds. This resulted in a major new addition to the repertoire, the Concerto for Solo Tuba, Orchestral Winds, Percussion and Piano. Mr. Villarrubia premiered the Concerto with Dr. Carnochan conducting The University of Texas Wind Symphony on March 27, 2012 in Bates Recital Hall on the campus of The University of Texas at Austin. Subsequent performances of the Concerto included one at the College Band Directors National Association Southwestern Division Conference on the campus of the University of Texas San Antonio on March 30, 2012.

Mr. Villarrubia has appeared on four continents as a guest clinician and performer for the Yamaha Corporation and has recorded on the Telarc, Angel EMI, d’note, and Koch labels. With his wife, flutist Marianne Gedigian, he started his own publishing company, Azadmusic that publishes their transcriptions as well as distributes their solo CD’s. Previous to his appointment at the Butler School of Music, Mr. Villarrubia served on the faculties at Boston University, The Boston Conservatory, New England Conservatory, and the Longy School of Music.

Professor of Tuba and Euphonium