By Sally Quale

Scharnberg next in line to shake hand’s with President Obama after the concert.

Norfolk resident Kim Scharberg has enjoyed success in multiple fields of music, as a composer, arranger, orchestrator, record producer and trombonist. Recently, chance catapulted him into the limelight with an invitation to share an on-stage curtain call with a cast of show business glitterati and President Obama. The venue was Ford’s Theatre, site of Lincoln’s assassination in April 1865, and one of the most visited tourist spots in Washington, D.C. This past February,following an 18-month, 25 million dollar renovation, the theatre re-opened with a presidential gala celebrating the bi-centennial of Lincoln’s Birthday and was attended by luminaries from Hollywood to Washington. George Lucas and Sidney Poitier were presented with Lincoln Medals, and tributes to Lincoln were delivered by actors James Earl Jones, Kelsey Grammer, Audra McDonald, Richard Thomas, Ben Vereen and Jeffrey Wright, along with journalist Katie Couric, all of whom joined in singing “The Battle Hymn of the Republic” at the close of the evening. The distinguished artists in attendance included opera star Jessye Norman, Cheryl Freeman and Joshua Bell, playing a violin that was part of the orchestra the night of Lincoln’s assassination. About ten days before the event, Kim was asked to step in as the conductor, in addition to being the orchestrator and arranger. Heady as this experience proved, even headier was the invitation extended to him to join the cast of luminaries for the final bow at the end of the night. “I have to thank Jessye Norman for that since she requested that I be downstage to conduct the final number, rather than tucked safely behind the piano,” Scharnberg said. “It was exciting to share the stage with that company and especially shaking the hand of the President who’d only been in office about two and a half weeks at that point.” The role of an orchestrator is often misunderstood in the music field. Scharnberg takes the melodies of a composer, perhaps supplemented with some sketches from an arranger and then writes out parts for whatever instruments have been hired. An orchestrator’s talent lies not only in allocating musical lines and sections to specific instruments, but in adding original phrases or flourishes to “realize the music,” as Scharnberg describes it. “I’ll often add my own lines or change things, sometimes with approval, sometimes not. If it’s a big change, I’ll definitely run it by the artist and/or the arranger, songwriter and producer.” Scharnberg finds that the advent of electronic or digital music has both lessened his job of orchestration and in some cases replaced it. However, while digital music is definitely here to stay, he believes it is best used to enhance live music which, he trusts, is here to stay for a long time. A graduate with high honors of the Eastman School of Music, Scharnberg credits his excellent teachers and courses for his orchestrating skills. He has worked with a variety of singers, musicians, bands and orchestras around the world in a variety of musical genres. He earned National Broadway Theatre Award nominations in 2001 for the musicals “Scarlet Pimpernel” and “The Civil War”, a 2005 Drama Desk nomination for “Little Women” and has orchestrated three new musicals currently running in Europe. Among his compositions are two commissioned works for the Yale Summer School of Music, Norfolk Chamber Music Festival, entitled “Blackberry River Stomp” and “July 4 Fanfare”, two symphonic pieces for the Children’s Kindness Network and works for the trombone quartet Novus. His current projects include a recording by the Atlanta Symphony of his arrangement of the “Tomahawk Chop” for use at Atlanta Braves games, production and orchestration for “Handel’s Messiah Rocks”, a rock version of the famous oratorio filmed for a PBS special with the Boston Pops that goes on tour this coming fall and music for the Pageant of the Masters in Laguna Beach, CA.