Stan Charkey (composer) is a recipient of awards for composition from Renée B. Fisher Foundation and Vermont Music Teachers Association as well as fellowships at the Ragdale Arts Foundation and the Kimmel-Harding Center For the Arts. His compositions include commissions for a variety of ensembles and musicians, including the Apple Hill Chamber Players, cellist Paul Cohen, pianists Luis Batlle and Michael Arnowitt, violist Michael Tree and of course his son, cellist Jake Charkey. In addition, he has written for dance, theater, and television. Vermont Headstones, 12 Songs for Baritone, Viola and Oboe, settings of headstone inscriptions in Vermont cemeteries, was performed throughout the state in recent years.