Dr. Chuck Bontrager is the very definition of the the 21st-century musician: highly Classically trained, experienced in multiple performance styles, and fluent in several variations of his instrument—viola, violin, baritone viola (chin-cello), mandolin and mandola—and his electric violins. In addition to his Masters degrees in acoustics and electrics, he received the first-ever Doctorate in electric violin performance in May of 2025.
Chuck currently serves as Concertmaster of the national touring company of Moulin Rouge! The Musical and has logged over 6,000 performances across more than 45 theatrical productions in Chicago and on Broadway. He has received performance invitations from every major symphony orchestra in the Chicago area, served as string captain with Chicago tribute giants Tributosaurus, and played rhythm and leads in heavy-prog stalwarts Nomadic Horizon and Vicarious TOOL Tribute.
While capable as a performer, arranger, and conductor, he is also a technolgist and instructor dedicated to the advancement of his instrument and the education of new generations. He is the founder and proprietor of Orchestral Evolutions LLC., providing bowed strings, processing, and programming for film scores, theatrical companies, and touring productions of all styles and genres. He also curates the Creator’s Guide to Amplified Strings (CGAS), a YouTube channel (additional platform channels pending) promoting the vast sonic capabilities of modern string processing to composers, arrangers and orchestrators, talent agents, and studio bosses and band leaders.
Chuck teaches in the Multi-Styles Strings program at New Jersey City University, at Columbia College Chicago, and privately online. He is an experienced private lesson and group class teacher, chamber coach, band instructor, and clinician; his Bowed Metal demonstrations are a frequent addition to school curricula, most recently at the Merit School of Music in Chicago and the Berklee College of Music in Boston.