Argersinger, Charles (Charles Edward), 1951-2013

Charles Edward Argersinger was born on October 15, 1951, in Schenectady, New York.

He was an American musician, composer, and educator. He attended Arizona State University, earning his bachelor’s and then, in 1977, his master’s degree in music. During his college years, he played saxophone in a rock band called Christopher Blue. In the late 1970s, he moved to Minneapolis so that he could study at the University of Minnesota with composer Dominick Argento. After completing his doctorate, Argersinger went on to teach at California State Bakersfield, DePaul University, and finally, Washington State University (WSU), where he served as coordinator of composition and theory as well as professor of jazz keyboards until 2009. The WSU Festival of Contemporary Art Music, which he founded in 1989, reflects his commitment to the continued life of classical music. He held residencies at Yaddo and Wolf Trap, travelled to the Montreux Jazz Festival as the first director of jazz studies at DePaul, and spent summers teaching at the Interlochen Center for the Arts. In his classical compositions, Argersinger aimed for, in his own words, “an equilibrium of intellect, emotion, and intuition,” and he identified Bartók and Stravinsky as key influences. Among recognitions of his music were a first prize for a brass fanfare for the 50th anniversary of the United Nations, a commission from the king of Thailand, a recording of his Concerto for Piano and Chamber Orchestra by members of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and the Contemporary Chamber Players of the University of Chicago, and two CDs of his jazz compositions and arrangements. As a jazz pianist, he was a regular at Rico’s in Pullman and other venues, both local and national.

In 1977, he married Jana Jennison. He died on April 16, 2013, in Pullman, Washington.