Meet Our Composers

Charles J. Torian, Jr., is a native of Hampton, Virginia. He holds music degrees from Frederick College in Portsmouth, and Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond.

He is a former member of the U.S. Navy Band in Washington, D.C., and has held positions playing oboe and English horn in the Norfolk (now Virginia) Symphony Orchestra, the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra, and the Frederick Symphony Orchestra. In his 25-year teaching career, Mr. Torian taught band and chorus in the cities of Hampton and Lexington, Virginia, as well as in Knoxville, Tennessee.

Mr. Torian is Director Emeritus of the Orange, Virginia, Community Band. He is a freelance composer of choral and wind instrument music, specializing in literature for the concert band. He, and his wife, Theresa, own and operate Hummingbird Music Publishers, LLC. When not writing, he enjoys playing oboe, English horn, and alto saxophone in the Charlottesville Municipal Band, the Orange Community Band, and the Rapidan Orchestra. He is an assistant conductor of the Charlottesville Municipal Band.