7/9/2023 0 Comments Charles lazarus![]() He finds the creative cross-pollination of different styles more inspiring than intimidating. And so I grew up in a household where people just listened to lots of different kinds of of music." "My older brother was a trombone player and was very interested in jazz, and my dad liked band music, and my mom enjoyed classical music. So what started Lazarus on the road to such a wildly busy, diverse career? The answer is simple. ![]() So, instead of saxes we have French horns, and it maintains that rich homogeneous color of the brass ensemble, so they can play brass chorales and things that sound like the Minnesota Orchestra brass section playing!" "Rather than a traditional big band, I decided I wanted to be all brass. ![]() He's especially excited to take to the stage with fellow members of the Minnesota Orchestra brass section. And so to be able to do a more contemporary version of it is fun for me." So we can do a New Orleans brass band version of 'Frosty the Snowman,' or a salsa 'Jingle Bells,' or this year we have a neo-soul hip-hop version of 'My Favorite Things.' For a few years I did some Christmas tours with Elizabeth von Trapp and so I have a friendship with her. But what I realized is there's so many older melodies that really lend themselves to different styles. "At first, I wasn't sure how I was going to do it. "What's really great about these traditional melodies is that they're a really great vehicle for fresh stylistic treatments, because everybody knows the tunes and so it's really challenging to put together a holiday show and try to be creative and inventive. It's a trope that musicians can't stand holiday music, presumably because of its simplicity and ubiquity. That's in addition to his recent and upcoming video projects. So having that opportunity, to have a vehicle to be so creative, I feel really, really fortunate to have that kind of collaboration with the orchestra." … To my knowledge, there is not another trumpet concerto like that that exists. "But there's a Gil Evans spirit, too, where there's a lot of freedom for just wide open jazz improvisation. "Some of it sounds like Copland some other times like Bernstein some of it sounds like Shostakovich," Lazarus says. It's for trumpet soloist and orchestra, and it melds elements from both the classical and jazz worlds. 12 and 13, as part of the orchestra's midwinter American Expressions Festival, he will be concerto soloist in Minnesota composer Steve Heitzeg's American Nomad, a 2015 work written especially for Lazarus. 15, his "genre-spanning brass spectacular" show, Merry and Bright, will get its Orchestra Hall audience in the mood for the holidays. His versatility will be on full display over the next few weeks. He joined the Minnesota Orchestra in 2000, and his tenure has been marked by an embrace of the eclectic: everything from the standard orchestral repertoire to contemporary works to jazzy original productions. That last sentence could be the thesis statement for Charles Lazarus' career.
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