SIDE ONE Jazz Programs
Lars Halle
Vice-President & Co-Artistic Director
Lars Halle was born in Trondheim, Norway, and spent his childhood in Sandviken,
Sweden, where he undertook his first music studies at the age of ten. He studied
drum set with Rolf Andersson and piano/arranging with renowned Swedish pianist
Gösta Rundquist. He moved to the United States in 1989 and subsequently
enrolled at the University of the Arts (Philadelphia) in 1992. At UArts, where
his teachers included Ralph Peterson Jr, Ronnie Burrage, and Bill Zaccagni,
Halle graduated with a B.F.A. in Jazz Drums Performance in 1996.
Halle has been writing music for big bands since his pre-teens and several of his works, published by Kendor Music, have been bestsellers. He receives commissions for big band works locally, as well as from overseas. His work has been performed by a number of prominent jazz musicians, including Jon Faddis, Rob McConnell, Dave Samuels, Bobby Shew, Kurt Elling, and Ray Anderson. In 2000 Halle took second place in the nationwide jazz-composer’s competition Jazzverk 2000 in Sweden.
Since the spring of 2000 Halle has headed the Lars Halle Jazz Orchestra in Philadelphia. After a successful series of appearances at Alex’s Jazz Underground, the exciting ensemble currently performs regularly at Chris’ Jazz Café. In 2002, the LHJO collaborated with Philadelphia’s John Swana, performing Halle’s arrangements of music by the noted trumpeter. LHJO’s recently recorded first CD features original compositions by Halle and has received good response.
Halle is also a member of Kaktus, an improvisation-based ensemble with trumpet player Aaron Meicht and pianist Matt Mitchell. The music of Kaktus thrives on a well-established level of trust and conversational understanding in an artistic sense. Over the years the trio has developed a cohesive musical vocabulary that emphasizes the intricasies of the interaction of sounds.
Since 1995, Halle has been actively involved in the Pennsylvania Governor’s School for the Arts where he teaches percussion, jazz history, jazz improvisation, music history, film criticism, big band, and free improvisation. He has been a senior faculty member of the PGSA since 2000 and, in 2001, he accepted the duty of audition team leader in music for the statewide interview process.
Throughout his musical career, Halle has also been actively involved in inter-arts collaborations. He has composed and played music for dance performances and has accompanied dance rehearsals. He has provided incidental music for theater and cabaret productions and has performed in orchestras for musical theater. Recently, Halle accepted the position of Music Preparation Supervisor at the Prince Music Theater in Philadelphia. He has been a copyist for productions of Cy Coleman’s “The Great Ostrovsky” and William Bolcom’s “Casino Paradise,” and the orchestrator for Charlie Gilbert’s “Gemini, the Musical.”