Charles Hazlewood

Charles Matthew Egerton Hazlewood (born 14 November 1966) is a British conductor and advocate for a wider audience for orchestral music. After winning the European Broadcasting Union conducting competition in his 20s, Hazlewood has had a career as an international conductor, music director of film and theatre and a curator of music on British radio and television.

Hazlewood has conducted many orchestras, including the Swedish Radio Symphony, Gothenburg & Malmö Symphonies, Copenhagen Philharmonic, the Danish Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Royal Concertgebouw of Amsterdam and the Philharmonia.

Hazlewood attended Christ's Hospital school in West Sussex where he was a chorister and organist. He later gained an organ scholarship to Keble College, Oxford, in 1986, graduating in 1989. He made his London debut with his own chamber orchestra, EOS, in January 1991. Hazlewood's follow-up concert at the Queen Elizabeth Hall and its controversial presentation which including talking to the audience about the pieces to be played and a stage set caused The Times reviewer to leave during the interval, exclaiming "I could take no more."

He was nominated by the BBC in 1995 as the UK's sole representative in the European Broadcasting Union conducting competition in Lisbon, where he won first prize.

Hazlewood is music director of the music ensemble Army of Generals, formed to record with him all the music for his BBC films. Army of Generals (coined by 18th and 19th-century musicologist Charles Burney who used the phrase to describe the finest orchestra of the day (i.e. an ensemble of soloists), support many of Hazlewood's West Country projects. Appearances include St George's, Bristol (partnering the Unthanks in a bespoke orchestral/folk project) and headlining the Park Stage at Glastonbury Festival (Philip Glass's Heroes Symphony).

Described by the BBC as "passionate about new work", he has conducted over 100 world premieres. Known for challenging the boundaries between genres and his passion to break the orchestra out of the ivory tower, he has also initiated several projects that explore common ground between different musical disciplines, such as Urban Classic, which created a new hybrid drawing together 5 Grime MC's and the BBC Concert Orchestra. As well as his Orchestra in a Field festivals which showcased orchestral music with a contemporary twist,

Hazlewood has collaborated similarly with musicians from across the contemporary musical landscape such as drum and bass artists Squarepusher and Goldie and soul performers Wyclef Jean and Labrinth.

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