Charmaine Michelle

Charmaine Michelle doesn’t know how you and her arrived at this divine checkpoint together but she’s so glad you’re here and this audacious artist guarantees you will not leave unchanged. Whether as a trumpeter, composer, writer or spoken word artist Charmaine Michelle has a passion for using her creative gifts to uplift and enlighten her audiences.

At the age of four, she began her musical journey in the children’s choir at First Baptist Church in Vienna, Virginia, where she developed a love for hymns and Negro spirituals.

In elementary school, Charmaine Michelle first started playing the cello but later switched to the trumpet. As a member of the national award-winning “Pride of Vienna” James Madison High School Band, she had the fortunate experience of sitting under the baton of Carl J. Bianchi (20 year conductor of the American Youth Philharmonic) and to perform at the Kennedy Center. Her senior year, the jazz band was lead by NSO Pops lead trumpet player and former member of “The President’s Own”, David Detwiler.

Also during this time she was heavily involved with the music ministry and creative arts team at Christ Fellowship Church in Herndon, Virginia where her father was associate Pastor. She was afforded the opportunity to write plays, lead the worship team and perform music with church band abroad in the Caribbean.

In 1999, she took a break from the Arts to start a family and to complete an undergraduate degree in African History with a minor in Foreign Affairs from the University of Virginia and then received her Masters Degree in Instructional Technology from Virginia Tech. In 2008, during the decline of her marriage she returned to the trumpet for solace and healing. With help of friends and mentors, in 2010 she was able to gain admission to Peabody Conservatory’s Jazz Studies Program headed by saxophonist Gary Thomas . During her matriculation at Peabody, Ms. Michelle was the recipient of the Noble Levi Jolley Sr. Jazz Scholarship and studied under trumpet player-Joe Burgstaller (formerly of the Canadian Brass).

While Peabody provided Ms. Michelle with a strong foundation in Jazz theory, she truly blossomed when she was given a special invitation to join the Dunbar Alumni Band under the director of legendary jazz educator, Charles Funn.

Charmaine Michelle has performed with the Peabody Brass Ensemble, Jazz Orchestra and Jazz Combo, Alex Norris, Steve Wilson, classical pianist Kyungwha Chu, Musicians of Mercy, St. Thomas Episcopal Brass Quintet, Sudanese Rocker mOsno, folk artist and activist Paulo Greogry, spoken word artist Aquil Mizan, Ama Chandra, Marc Evans, William Soul, Deep Water, Adrian Blu,Soulful Elements, Karlos Brickhouse, Dunbar Alumni Big Band, The Dale Acorn Big Band, KREation, Artists against War, The Ernie Williams Project, The GoGo Symphony, and Shannon Gunn & The Bullets.

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