Charles Hazlewood occupies a unique position in British musical life. The combination of his outstanding musical talent and versatility as a conductor, and his passion for bringing classical music to the widest possible audience, has led to a significant profile as a conductor in the broadcast media, and on the world stage.

Following his studies at Christ’s Hospital and Oxford University, Hazlewood won first prize at the European Broadcasting Union Conducting Competition in Lisbon in 1995. He guest-conducts many leading orchestras in the UK and abroad. June 2003 saw his Carnegie Hall debut conducting the Orchestra of St. Luke’s. He made his BBC Proms conducting debut in August 2006, with the BBC Concert Orchestra; simultaneously presenting the concert live from the stage for TV. In the past year he has made his debut with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, the Gothenburg and Malmo Symphony Orchestras, the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and the Philharmonia

Ever since the formation of his orchestra Excellent Device (previously Eos) in 1991, Hazlewood has blazed a trail in new ways of approaching music for which is he is now well known; through talking to his audience live on stage, collaborating with other art forms (sculpture, film etc), and playing in unconventional settings. He also has a sister orchestra – Army of Generals – which comprises the cream of period instrumentalists in London, who have featured in many of his BBC films about composers. Army of Generals began a major new residency at St George's Bristol in January 2011.

From 2000 - 2007, Hazlewood was Music Director of the Cape Town based lyric theatre company Dimpho Di Kopane, DDK, (Sotho for “combined talents”), which he co-founded. For the company he conducted Carmen and West Side Story. As composer he conceived the music forYiimimangaliso (The Mysteries) andIbali Loo Tsotsi (The Beggar’s Opera), both of which have had hugely successful runs in London and on tour worldwide – and The Snow Queen, which premiered in New York in 2004.

Dimpho Di Kopane’s first feature film U-Carmen e-Khayelitsha, (for which Hazlewood acted as Music Director and Conductor) premiered in South Africa in spring 2005, prior to international release, and was awarded the prestigious ‘Golden Bear’ award for Best Film at the 2005 Berlin Film Festival (click here to watch trailer on YouTube). Their subsequent movie, Son of Man featured a score created by Hazlewood in collaboration with the company.

As part of his passion to reach the widest possible audience for music, Hazlewood is well known to millions as “the face of classical music” (The Daily Telegraph) for the BBC, for whom he has authored and conducted the music in several groundbreaking films: Vivaldi Unmasked (BBC1), The Genius of Mozart (BBC2/4), Beethoven (BBC2/4) and Tchaikovsky (BBC2/4). His latest landmark films with his orchestra Army of Generals, The Birth of British Music, were received to great acclaim on BBC2 in 2009

Hazlewood’s eclecticism defies convention; in the past six years he has conducted over fifty orchestral world premieres, worked with the rawest new South African vocal talent, and explored artists at the cutting edge of the pop music scene in the UK, in projects such as ‘Urban Classic’: fusing five Grime MC’s with the BBC Concert Orchestra at the Hackney Empire. He launched 'Charles Hazlewood's All Star Collective' at Glastonbury Festival 2008, featuring Will Gregory (Goldfrapp), Adrian Utley (Portishead), saxophonists Andy Sheppard and Jason Yarde, Cian (Super Furry Animals), Gabriel Prokofiev and Squarepusher (Charles Hazlewood's All Star Collective- "A sort of avante-garde super group" - The Idler)


In August '09 Charles unveiled a new breed of orchestral festival in the rural heartland of the British West Country. It was broadcast nationwide and attended by over 4,000 people. Orchestra in the Field returns June 30 - July 1 2012.

www.orchestrainafield.com

Upcoming highlights include the launch of Hazlewood's new Johannesburg opera company with 'Soweto Messiah', projects with the Philharmonia and National Youth Orchestra in London, the Malmö Synphony in Sweden and the Malaysian Philharmonic, and the launch of Britain's first national disabled orchestra, Paraorchestra.

 
Charles Hazlewood lives with his family in Somerset.
 
Charles Hazlewood is acid-hot!     The Observer