Mike Lovatt Lead trumpet with the BBC Big Band, The John Wilson Orchestra and 42nd Street. Mike is joining the NJO for a very special night...
Don’t miss this one!
Mike studied at Trinity College of music where he was awarded the Jon Kelly Jazz Scholarship. He has performed and recorded a wide range of musical styles with many artists including Quincy Jones, Robbie Williams, Eric Clapton, The Orchestra of the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Michael Buble, Oasis, Michel Le Grand, Tony Bennett, Toots Thielmans, Marty Paich, Johnny Mathis, The Michael Nyman Band, Michael Ball, Shirley Bassey, Michael Crawford, Danny Elfman, Joby Talbot, The BBC Symphony and Concert Orchestras, London Brass, and The Glenn Miller Orchestra....
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Mike Lovatt Lead trumpet with the BBC Big Band, The John Wilson Orchestra and 42nd Street. Mike is joining the NJO for a very special night...
Don’t miss this one!
Mike studied at Trinity College of music where he was awarded the Jon Kelly Jazz Scholarship. He has performed and recorded a wide range of musical styles with many artists including Quincy Jones, Robbie Williams, Eric Clapton, The Orchestra of the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Michael Buble, Oasis, Michel Le Grand, Tony Bennett, Toots Thielmans, Marty Paich, Johnny Mathis, The Michael Nyman Band, Michael Ball, Shirley Bassey, Michael Crawford, Danny Elfman, Joby Talbot, The BBC Symphony and Concert Orchestras, London Brass, and The Glenn Miller Orchestra.
As Principal Trumpet in London’s West End, he is currently lead trumpet in '42nd Street at The London Palladium, and has performed in Jesus Christ Superstar, Evita, The Producers, Billy Elliot, Guys and Dolls, Saturday Night Fever, My Fair Lady, and Spamalot amongst many others.
Mike is the lead trumpet of the BBC Big Band who featured him in a tribute to Maynard Fergusson. He has played on movie soundtracks including the James Bond films Tomorrow Never Dies and Die Another Day, Harry Potter and The Half Blood Prince, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows with The London Symphony Orchestra, the award winning Chicago, Kevin Spacey’s Beyond the Sea, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Madagascar, and The Corpse Bride. He is featured on trumpet and cornet in George Fenton’s Mrs Henderson Presents, and on trumpet in ‘Looking for Eric.’
Mike is principal trumpet with the Grammy Nominated John Wilson Orchestra and has been featured in their celebrated BBC promenade concerts and recordings.
In 1999 he first performed the Sacred Music of Duke Ellington with Jessye Norman, Mark Markham, Ron Carter and Grady Tate. This collaboration with Ms Norman has continued with a duo appearance at the Tate gallery in London, and touring extensively with performances at Carnegie Hall, throughout Europe and the Montreux Jazz Festival where the legend Quincy Jones commented “great chops Mike.”
Mike is sought after as a teacher, clinician and is a professor of trumpet at The Royal Academy of Music and The Royal College of Music. In April 2013, Mike was proud to be awarded the prestigeous position of The Derek Watkins' Chair of Trumpet at The Royal Academy of Music, London.
In 2009 Mike was soloist with the Lucerne Festival Orchestra Brass Ensemble and more recently the Espoo Big Band Helsinki and The London Symphony Orchestra with Eddie Daniels.
In 2012 Mike recorded and was featured with Carl Davis on his score for the TV Drama series ‘Upstairs Downstairs’ , John Lunn's music for 'The Lady Vanishes' and Charlie Moles's music for the hit ITV series 'Mr Selfridge'.
"I’ve always had a real appreciation for great orchestras and artful, sophisticated orchestrations. The almost limitless variety of colours, moods, rhythms and emotions that an orchestra can conjure exists nowhere else in the world of recorded music.
It was through this passion that I first became familiar with the brilliance of Mike Lovatt. I’d long been a fan and an enthusiastic collaborator with the great John Wilson and his magnificent Orchestra. My ear was repeatedly drawn to the powerful yet always warm sound of the 1st trumpet. His playing so perfectly captured the stylistic nuances of the great trumpeters of the MGM contract orchestras from the Golden Age of Hollywood.
Since that time, I’ve been fortunate enough to enjoy many collaborations with Mike Lovatt: through The John Wilson Orchestra, and later on my own records. Mike’s playing is by turns both powerful and commanding, leading the hard charging brass at one moment, and soulfully quiet and introspective in another.
Mike Lovatt is, in my estimation, the finest trumpet player alive. I hope you enjoy his amazing sound as much as I do."
Seth MacFarlane
Los Angeles, October 2018
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