Charles Floyd
Pianist - Conductor - Composer
“… a pianist of unusual charm and admirable grace…”
~William Mootz, The
Louisville
“…He has a big ringing tone and phenomenal chops. …”
~Richard Dyer, The
Boston
Born in Chicago, pianist-conductor-composer Charles Floyd began studying piano at age four, gave his first solo recital at age nine, and by age twenty had been heard in solo, chamber and concerto performances throughout the United States and Spain. His mentors include pianists Jospeh Schwartz, Lee Luvisi, Aube Tzerko, Misha Dichter, and Jorge Bolet. He has been the recipient of numerous awards and grants including the Aspen School of Music Fellowship, Oberlin Conservatory’s Rudolf Serkin Award, Chicago’s Louis Sudler Civic and Arts Foundation, and the National Chopin Competition of New York’s Kosciuszko Foundation.
As a conductor, Floyd has been heard in concert with more than 500 orchestras internationally since 1991, during which time his work at the podium caught the special attention of conductors James DePriest and Seiji Ozawa. His appearances include performances with The Atlanta, Indianapolis, Honolulu, Houston, Oregon, Baltimore, Saint Louis, San Francisco, and Chicago Symphony Orchestras, the Buffalo Philharmonic, and the Philadelphia Orchestra. He has also appeared with the Scottish National Radio Orchestra, Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal, the Melbourne Symphony, the Aukland Symphony, the Wellington Sinfonia (New Zealand), the Sydney Symphony (Australia), and the London Philharmonic. During the 2003-2004 concert season, Floyd appeared with the Los Angeles Philharmonic in four different programs and ended his season with a debut with the Brooklyn Philharmonic at Carnegie Hall. During the 2006-2007 season, he debuted with the Edmonton Symphony (Alberta, Canada) and the Holland Symfonia (The Netherlands).
Floyd is an annual guest conductor of the Boston Pops Orchestra. Since 1994 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”, and critically acclaimed performances as pianist of Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue with Keith Lockhart conducting. His programs have featured a diversity of artists such as Grace Bumbry, Sting, Elton John, Brian Wilson, James Taylor, Matt Lauer, The Paratore Brothers, Yolanda Adams, Jennifer Holliday, Daryl Coley, Kirk Franklin, Doc Severinsen, Sergio Mendes, Nancy Wilson, Chris Botti, Stevie Wonder, Wynona Judd, and William Warfield. In 1998 he was music director for the PBS holiday special, A Cathedral Christmas with Metropolitan Opera’s Denyce Graves at The National Cathedreal in Washington, D.C. His eleven-year partnership with Natalie Cole included such projects as the multiple Grammy Award-winning tribute to Nat King Col entitled Unforgettable, With Love, the Emmy Award-winning PBS Great Performances concert video of the same title, as we as the Grammy-winning releases Take a Look and Stardust. In January, 2009, he conducted the HBO pre-inaugural concert We Are One on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial for President Barack Obama.
His compositions range from solo and 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 in 2001. His Four Spirituals for Soprano and Orchestra premiered at 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 joined the small team of conductors performing Howard Shore’s The Lord of the Rings Symphony at the request of the Oscar-winning film composer.