Charles attended the Interlochen Center for the Arts on full scholarship, a boarding arts high school in Michigan, where he studied piano performance. After graduating from Interlochen, he became one to youngest recipients of the Music Academy of the West Fellowship and attended the Music Academy of the West, in Santa Barbara were he worked with Jerome Lowenthal, chair of the piano department at the Juilliard School in New York City. Charles then began his undergraduate degree at the University of Southern California, after living in Los Angeles for a year, he moved to New York City and continued his undergraduate studies at The New School, Mannes School of Music. At Mannes Charles studied piano with renowned pianist Vladimir Feltsman, who only accepts two or three students every year. Upon completing his undergraduate studies, Charles went on to complete his Masters Degree in Composition and Music Theory at the New York University - Steinhardt. At NYU he studied composition with American composer Julia Wolfe and Tae Hong Park.