Guest Artist Bio
Charles Floyd
Born in Chicago, Charles Floyd has been heard in concert with more than 500 orchestras since 1991, during which time his work at the podium caught the special attention of conductors James DePreist and Seiji Ozawa. His appearances include performances with the Detroit Symphony, Oregon, Saint Louis, Philadelphia, Buffalo, San Francisco, Chicago, San Francisco and Baltimore Symphony Orchestras. He has also appeared with the Scottish National Radio Orchestra, the Toronto Symphony, the Sydney Symphony, the Melbourne Symphony, the Aukland Symphony, and the London Philharmonic. He made his debut with the Brooklyn Philharmonic at Carnegie Hall in July, 2004.
Floyd is an annual guest conductor of the Boston Pops Orchestra. Since 1993 his performances have included "Gospel Night at Pops" at Boston's Symphony Hall, a program which features orchestral classics as well as a 120-voice gospel chorus. His work in Boston's 1996 season included a PBS telecast of "Evening at Pops", featuring Patti LaBelle and Edwin Hawkins in a program of gospel music, and critically acclaimed performances as pianist of Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue with conductor Keith Lockhart. His programs have featured a diversity of artists such as Grace Bumbry, Harolyn Blackwell, Sting, Elton John, Brian Wilson, James Taylor, Yolanda Adams, Jennifer Holliday, Daryl Coley, Kirk Franklin, Doc Severinsen, Chris Botti, Stevie Wonder, Wynona Judd and William Warfield. In 1998 he was music director for the nationally broadcast PBS holiday special, "A Cathedral Christmas", with Metropolitan Opera mezzo-soprano Denyce Graves at The National Cathedral in Washington, D.C.
Floyd's eleven-year partnership with singer Natalie Cole included such projects as the multiple Grammy Award-winning tribute to Nat King Cole entitled Unforgettable, With Love, the Emmy Award-winning PBS Great Performances concert video of the same title, as well as the Grammy-winning releases Take a Look and Stardust.
His compositions range from chamber music to large orchestral and vocal works. A tribute to the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, One Man's Dream for narrator and orchestra was commissioned and premiered by the Charlotte Symphony Orchestra in 2001. His Four Spirituals for soprano and orchestra was premiered at Boston's Symphony Hall with the Boston Pops Esplanade Orchestra in 1995, and his oratorio Hosanna for gospel chorus and orchestra premiered there in 2000. In July, 2005 he conducted Howard Shore’s “The Lord Of The Rings Symphony” at the request of the composer.