Love is in the air this February as the Canton Symphony Orchestra celebrates the season of Valentine’s Day with a concert devoted entirely to Baroque music. Baroque music is integral to the Western Art Music Canon, and is widely studied, performed, and listened to – often unbeknownst to the listener!

During this era, professional musicians were expected to be accomplished improvisers of both solo melodic lines and accompaniment parts. Our featured soloist, Brian Shaw, accomplishes this with stunning tonality and dexterous precision. Shaw’s interpretation of Clarke’s Trumpet Voluntary in D, often heard as a wedding processional, will be a particular treat.

Brian Shaw is the Julian & Sidney Carruth Associate Professor of Trumpet/Jazz Studies at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge and Visiting Professor of Baroque Trumpet Studies at the Eastman School of Music. He is also Principal Trumpet of the Baton Rouge Symphony, Co-Principal Trumpet of the Dallas Winds, and enjoys an international performing career as a modern and historical trumpet artist.