Fri, Feb 27
|First Presbyterian Church
Charles Lazarus (Trumpet) & David Cherwien (Organ)
Acclaimed Minnesota Orchestra and former Canadian Brass trumpeter Charles Lazarus teams up with organist and former Director of the National Lutheran Choir, David Cherwien.
Time & Location
Feb 27, 2026, 7:00 PM
First Presbyterian Church, 300 SW 2nd Ave, Gainesville, FL 32601, USA
About the event
FEATURED PIECES
Suite in D Major from Water Music (G.F. Handel)
Solid Rock Fantasy (J. Stamp)
Improvisation (D. Cherwien)
Acclaimed Minnesota Orchestra and former Canadian Brass trumpeter Charles Lazarus teams up with organist and former Director of the National Lutheran Choir, David Cherwien for an evening of exciting and virtuosic music making.
Trumpeter Charles Lazarus is a member of the Minnesota Orchestra and a multi-faceted musician who has charted a unique course as performer, composer, producer and band leader.
His career has included tenures in Dallas Brass, Meridian Arts Ensemble, and Canadian Brass. He has created and produced several crossover orchestral programs featuring his various ensembles with which he has released six recordings. The Minnesota Orchestra’s live video recording of Steve Heitzeg’s “American Nomad” concerto and a children's animated short film collaboration with author Michael Hall “Perfect Square” are also among his many collaborations.
Lazarus has appeared as a soloist with numerous orchestras around the US and Canada, performed with the Empire Brass, New York Philharmonic Principal Brass, London Brass, Barry White, and opened for Tony Bennett. In demand as a clinician and teacher, he has performed and taught master classes in every US state, Canada, Brazil, Cuba, South Africa and throughout Asia and Europe. Charles Lazarus
David Cherwien is a prolific composer with over 150 publications of choral and organ music, with several publishers including MorningStar Music, and is the 2007 winner of the Raabe Prize for Excellence in Sacred Composition for his piece, "The Souls of the Righteous." For the National Lutheran Choir alone, Cherwien has composed at least 24 new works during his tenure with the Choir. He has released numerous recordings of Hymns and Choral Music through Mount Olive Lutheran Church, and the National Lutheran Choir, and serves editor for the National Lutheran Choir Series with MorningStar. Recordings and music may be found at: nlca.com, mountolivechurch.org, and morningstarmusic.com.
David is a founding member of the Association of Lutheran Church Musicians, serving in its leadership in a variety of capacities, including National President from 1993 to 1997. He is also active in the American Guild of Organists and Choristers Guild.
His workshops on church music, service playing and improvisation, and his hymn festivals and other worship leadership roles have continuously brought him to many parts of the country, including in 2016 serving as Lecturer and Hymn Festival leader at the Presbyterian University and Seminary in Seoul, Korea.
Quote: "As a renowned church organist, conductor, composer and improviser, David Cherwien brings creativity to hymns of various traditions and styles. He has won national acclaim as a leader of congregational song with hymn festivals that are always inspiring. With innovative merging of organ, piano, instruments and voices, his music enfolds the participants and transports them to an encounter with the sublime. Through this expression of faith, Dr. Cherwien bears witness that music is a glorious gift of God." Pilgrim Lutheran Church, Fine Arts Series, Indianapolis, IN. David Cherwien