Charles Gerhardt

Charles Allan Gerhardt was an American conductor and record producer born on February 6, 1927, in Little Rock, Arkansas. He studied piano at age five and composition at nine before serving in the Navy during World War II. Gerhardt attended several universities and the Juilliard School. Between 1951 and 1955, he held technical roles at RCA Victor. In 1960, he began producing recordings for RCA Victor and Reader's Digest, including the 12-LP set A Festival of Light Classical Music. Gerhardt formed an orchestra in 1964, which was incorporated as the National Philharmonic Orchestra in 1970. He conducted the Classic Film Scores series between 1972 and 1978, which included the 1972 release The Sea Hawk: The Classic Film Scores of Erich Wolfgang Korngold. In 1978, he conducted James Galway’s album Annie’s Song, which reached number 3 on the British charts. Gerhardt died on February 22, 1999. In 2020, RCA re-released the original Classic Film Scores recordings in a 12-CD set.