Charles Hazlewood
Paraorchestra channels the artistic vision of Charles Hazlewood, the award-winning British conductor and our Artistic Director.
“Orchestral music is my absolute passion, its ability to uplift, enhance and unite has been a continual revelation since I was a boy. When I started as a young conductor I was frustrated by the narrow confines of ‘classical music’. I wanted to take it out of the concert hall and bring the sheer awesome joy of orchestral performance to all music lovers wherever they are. To prove that you can love rap, folk, and Sibelius! And so began an unconventional conducting career that took a new turn in 2012 when I started Paraorchestra. These incredible musicians opened my mind to a whole new set of musical possibilities. My work expanded from developing a new audience for orchestral music to re-imagining what an orchestra is. Paraorchestra is now my sole project, the only orchestra I am interested in working with. Their appetite for risk, for shifting paradigms, for proving that literally anything is possible makes them utterly unique in the industry”

Charles has conducted many of the world’s greatest orchestras and has collaborated with a huge spectrum of fellow artists from Professor Green to Steve Reich to Nigel Kennedy to Peter Maxwell Davies Goldie. His fresh performances of music across genres break new ground and excite audiences wherever he performs, but his goal is always the same: exposing the deep, always-modern joy of orchestral music.