by Modern Songbook Records | Mar 15, 2014 | Interviews
Bethesda Magazine recently named Charlie a “Person of Interest”:
Charlie Barnett is about to play one of his favorite tunes.
“Listen to this,” he says, as if sharing a delicious secret. And suddenly you can’t wait to hear what he has cued up on his computer.
This is a guy who has penned symphonies, scored award-winning films, played before large audiences, and written music for acclaimed poet Maya Angelou’s spoken-word performances. But his enthusiasm makes every song he plays feel brand new.
To read the whole story, click here: Bethesda Magazine
by Modern Songbook Records | Mar 15, 2014 | Interviews
Two gigs in Pennsylvania’s Lehigh Valley inspired this coverage in one of the local papers:
Charlie Barnett calls himself the quintessential late bloomer.
The Easton native was one of those kids forced to take piano lessons by his parents, and quit the first chance he got.
But when he turned 20, he regretted his decision and began taking jazz piano lessons on his day off from his surveying job.
“That was the start of me becoming a good piano player,” Barnett says. “I was the classic hepcat.”
Now having scored hundreds of documentaries, films and television shows and touring in a band with A-listers from the Washington, D.C. music scene, his musical talent has flowered.
To read the whole story, click here: The Morning Call
by Modern Songbook Records | Feb 14, 2014 | News
A brand-new string ensemble has chosen my piece “String Transparencies” for their next concert. Takoma Ensemble, led by Victoria Gau, associate conductor of the National Philharmonic at Strathmore, started their season with a piece by Lou Harrison! That tells you all you need to know about Vicki and the musical landscape she tends to traipse.
by Modern Songbook Records | Jan 15, 2014 | News
The Maryland Youth Ballet has commissioned a ballet for their 2015 season. We’ve got a title, Open 24 Hours, and it’s up to me to create both plot and score for this piece, which will be choreographed by Christopher Doyle. I’m writing the ballet for full orchestra.
by Modern Songbook Records | Dec 15, 2013 | News
I am gearing up to score a new PBS documentary about Admiral Hyman Rickover, the moving force behind the launch of America’s first nuclear-powered submarine. This is the long-term project of director Michael Pack, and it stars Tim Blake Nelson of O Brother, Where Art Thou? as Rickover. Clearly this will be an unusual film. Pack and I have been talking about this score for some time now. We both agree that Rickover was at the same time heroic and difficult and lonely. The score will feature alto sax, and there will be moments when the instrument is unaccompanied. I have already contracted the concert artist Rick Parrell to play for this.
