Biography
Charles Lazarus is known for his distinctive blend of lounge/exotica and funk fired jazz. The trumpeter/composer’s eclectic career has been met with acclaim from critics worldwide. Lazarus made his main stage Carnegie Hall solo debut with the New York String Orchestra at the age of 19 while still a student at The Juilliard School in New York. He has been a member of the Dallas Brass, Meridian Arts Ensemble, Canadian Brass, and currently the Minnesota Orchestra. He has been on the trumpet faculties of Princeton University and St. Olaf College, and has performed and taught master classes in every US state, Canada, South America and throughout Europe and Asia.
Lazarus has performed his own compositions for the Montréal and Ottawa international jazz festivals, live on Radio Canada, for music videos that have aired nationally on Canadian television, and as an opening act for Tony Bennett. He has performed with the New York Trumpet Ensemble, The New York Big Brass, The London Brass, and the Montréal Symphony and has been a soloist with the Minnesota Orchestra, North Carolina Symphony, Oregon Symphony, Florida Orchestra, Les Violons du Roy, and the Bach Society among others. He has recorded for television and Imax film scores, as well as major symphony orchestras and numerous classical, pop and jazz ensembles.
Recent Highlights:
2005 - Charles released his debut CD, Solo Settings, with producer/multi-instrumentalist Craig Hara. The CD earned rave reviews and Lazarus’s composition Waves was voted the Great American Song Contest’s instrumental song of the year.
2006 - He performed and presented master classes at Yale University and The Juilliard School.
2007- Lazarus premiered his original orchestral pops show, A Night in the Tropics, with the Minnesota Orchestra and Osmo Vänskä, and was the opening act for Tony Bennett at the Orchestra’ s Symphony Ball. In the same year, Charles won the prestigious McKnight Fellowship for Performing Musicians.
2008 - His second solo recording, Zabava, was released with Tommy Barbarella, Jeff Bailey, Craig Hara, and special guests Tim O’Keef, Shai Hayo, and Osmo Vänskä. His composition Now is Leaving was honored with “Outstanding Achievement in Songwriting” in the 2008 Great American Song Contest.
2009 - Charles was featured with his quartet at the International Trumpet Guild conference and gave repeat performance of A Night in the Tropics with the Minnesota Orchestra.
Upcoming performances include:
2010
Performance & master class, The Juilliard School, New York
Fairbanks Jazz Festival, Fairbanks, AK
A Night in the Tropics with the Rochester (MN) Symphony Orchestra
White Pine Festival, Stillwater, MN
North Carolina Jazz Repertory Orchestra, Temple Theater, Sanford, NC
2011
Valentine’s Big Band show, Minnesota Orchestra, Minneapolis, MN
American Riffs Young People’s Concerts, Minnesota Orchestra, Minneapolis, MN