Charles Reneau is an instructor of trombone and bass trombone at Portland State University, as well as the bass trombonist of the Oregon Symphony. He is a busy educator, teaching privately and at PSU, as well as regularly coaching sectionals for Portland Youth Philharmonic, Metropolitan Youth Symphony, and high schools across the region. He has also taught trombone and directed ensembles at the Brass at Wallowa Lake youth camp in Eastern Oregon for many years.
His students have won auditions to join the Oregon All State Band and Orchestra, Portland Youth Philharmonic, Portland Youth Concert Orchestra, Portland Youth Wind Ensemble and Metropolitan Youth Symphony. Two of his students have won OSAA's state solo competition and many have won scholarships to attend colleges and universities such as Northwestern University and Columbia University, as well as the state universities of Oregon and Washington.
Charles holds a bachelor's degree from the University of Georgia and a master's degree from The Juilliard School in New York. During his studies he performed with the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, and the orchestras of Macon, Chattanooga, Birmingham and Augusta. He is a winner of the International Trombone Association’s Donald Yaxley/Greenhoe Bass Trombone Competition and the Zellmer- Minnesota Orchestra Trombone Competition, and a two-time winner of the US Army Band’s Bass Trombone Solo Competition. Since moving to Portland in 2007, he has also performed with the Seattle Symphony, the Spokane Symphony, the Oregon Bach Festival, Chamber Music Northwest, and the Sunriver Music Festival.