The New York Times has praised "the accomplished pianist Charlie Albright"[8] and his "jaw-dropping technique," describing his playing as "virtuosity with a distinctive musicality throughout.

His mother, Hyesoo, was a computer database specialist who was born in Seoul, and his father, Jeff Albright, was a U.S. Navy serviceman; the two married in Korea and then settled in Washington.

[14][15] During his years with Adsit, Albright was selected five times as an Olympia Chapter representative to the Washington State Music Teachers Convention (WSMTA) and received a Beaux Arts Society scholarship.

[citation needed] Albright's success continued as a prizewinner in the Northwest Chopin Festival on February 1, 2003, and first prize winner in the 2003 Washington State MTNA Senior Piano Competition.

[21] Albright was the first classical pianist in the Harvard/New England Conservatory 5-Year BA/MM Joint Program, where he received a bachelor's degree in economics and completed a pre-medical curriculum at Harvard College (Class of 2011).

"[24] On December 1, the pianist performed for the first time with cellist Yo-Yo Ma at the Harvard ceremony presenting the late Senator Ted Kennedy with an Honorary Doctorate degree.

At the ceremony, guests included Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer, Senator John Kerry, and then Vice-President-Elect Joe Biden.

He competed in the Vendome Prize International Piano Competition in Vienna and, though he was not selected among the top five finishers, he was given a special award by pianist and jury member Elisabeth Leonskaja.

On July 22, 2010, Albright made his San Francisco Symphony debut with the Duke Ellington "New World A-Comin'" with conductor Alondra de la Parra.

It continued that "An impressive range of differently colored sounds at the keyboard was matched by overwhelming virtuosity" and that Albright "leapt the most outrageous technical hurdles... with a sense of dangerous self-abandon that was thrilling to hear.

[7] Albright was invited to give three All-Schubert solo concerts at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in 2013, to which the Boston Musical Intelligencer wrote that the pianist was "unsurpassed" and "on the top tier."

"[33] The second of the three Schubert-cycle concerts at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum was met with praise, with reviews hailing that "Albright is a born Schubert player.

The award is "designed to give professional assistance and recognition to talented instrumentalists...who the Recommendation Board and Executive Committee of the Avery Fisher Artist Program believe to have great potential for major careers," and included a $25,000 grant.

"[46] Albright made his solo debut at Avery Fisher Hall in the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts' Mostly Mozart Festival on August 11 and 12 of 2015.

He was a featured guest artist with the Philly Pops and conductor David Charles Abbell on A Philly Pops Christmas: Spectacular Sounds of the Season, which was broadcast online,[57] and I'll Be Home For Christmas: A Salute to the Military and First Responders, which was broadcast both online and over the American Forces Network to "approximately 500,000 servicemembers domestically and 500,000 internationally at both military bases and seafaring vessels," performing with singer Mandy Gonzalez from Broadway's production of Hamilton.

Albright returned to Verizon Hall for three additional performances with the Philly Pops, conductor/vocalist/trumpeter Byron Stripling, and Broadway vocalists Allison Blackwell, Ryan Silverman, and Nikki Renee Daniels.

[73] This concert was described by the Boston Musical Intelligencer as "gripping, frankly, both spellbinding and spellbound, quite unlike most such solo recitals I've heard over the decades.

It continued that "An impressive range of differently colored sounds at the keyboard was matched by overwhelming virtuosity" and that Albright "leapt the most outrageous technical hurdles... with a sense of dangerous self-abandon that was thrilling to hear.

As clever as he sounds, Albright, in fact, gave the improvisation something I rarely witness in such settings: a highly personal emotional depth, as if he was expressing his inner self rather than simply exercising his powers of invention.

3 was bound to show a more filtered version of Albright — it's a tightly written concerto — though his personality was evident in his way of shaping a phrase with a kind of extravagance that had showmanship but never felt cheap.

Winner of a slew of awards, most prominently a 2014 Avery Fisher Career Grant, Mr. Albright is now in the company of musicians who have become household names…Ursula Oppens, Richard Stoltzman, Joshua Bell, Hillary Hahn, Yuja Wang, and many others who have made their marks.

In the hands of this soloist, the texture, bathed in full splendour, flowed along with an effortless virtuosity enlivened by a primitive rhythmic drive and a refined piano tone.

"[85] After Albright's May 15, 2015 concert with the West Michigan Symphony Orchestra, mLive.com wrote that "The ultimate goal is to enjoy music with pure delight and unbridled passion.

In the improvised encore of themes-and-variations based on notes from the audience "Each new variation disclosed a distinctive quality, ranging from urgent to lyrical, solemn to adventurous, shifting from waltz to march to ballade and more—all while maintaining the overall coherence of the idiom.

In dynamics, too, Albright created a storyline using massaged tempos and steps of volume that drift off into intense softness, passages that brought the listener forward in their seat in order to catch every note.

The cadenza of the opening Allegro molto moderato movement was a feast of emotional playing that has, as its ultimate destination, a flash and bang close that often urges the unwary listener to applaud without restraint, admittedly understandable under the circumstances.

With the KSO audience fully enthralled by Albright's performance and hungry for more, the pianist offered an ear-opening encore, his own hyper-speed take on "Great Balls of Fire.

And Albright's choice of encore — a careening "Great Balls of Fire" — showed that Jerry Lee Lewis wasn't miles off from "Rhapsody in Blue.

""[93] Broadway World Boston also raved of his "piano mastery," writing that "Albright wasted no time demonstrating the talent that made him a onetime wunderkind, delivering a fresh, vigorous, and imaginative take on the Gershwin classic that was the stand-out  opening-night selection.

As his richly earned encore, Albright all but attacked the keyboard – while leaving both feet planted on the floor – for a rousing rendition of “Great Balls of Fire,” a 1957 hit for Jerry Lee Lewis.