Scharrès championed the works of his contemporary Belgian (Joseph Jongen, Auguste De Boeck, Jean Absil, Gaston Brenta, François Rasse, Francis de Bourguignon, Sylvain Dupuis) and French composers (Emmanuel Chabrier, Ernest Chausson, Gabriel Fauré, Claude Debussy, Maurice Ravel, Camille Saint-Saëns and Darius Milhaud).
Scharrès was known for his thematically selected concert programs devoted to particular historical periods, National schools, the evolution of the sonata, or a particular common source of inspiration.
He taught piano at the Royal Conservatory of Brussels from 1920 to 1954 where his students included the Belgian composers René Bernier and Peter Cabus.
Paul Gilson’s composition instruction triggered Scharrès to write a series of pieces, notably for piano, from 1914 onwards.
The Charles Scharrès Collection [1] held in the Music Division of the Royal Library of Belgium contains over 1,500 printed scores, some illustrated by Magritte, more than a hundred autograph manuscripts, concert programs, press clippings, and recordings making it an important source on Belgian musical life, particularly concerning piano performance practices and repertoire, during the first half of the 20th century.