Saturday, April 17, 2010

Steven Mead (euphonium)


Steven Mead (born 1962 in Bournemouth, England) is a virtuoso euphonium soloist and teacher who has played an important role in achieving worldwide recognition of the instrument.[1][2][3]

Steven Mead is widely regarded as one of the most successful professional euphonium soloists in the world today, performing over 75 concerts per year with some of the leading orchestras, wind bands and brass bands in the world. In recent years he has played solo concerti with symphony orchestras, including: Germany (Stuttgart Philharmonic Orchestra) Norway (Trondheim Symphony Orchestra) , Finland (Lahti Symphony Orchestra and Helsinki Philharmonic), Poland (Capella Cracoviensis), USA (Minneapolis Pops Orchestra) and the Japan Chamber Orchestra. During a particularly critically acclaimed improvised performance at the Guggenheim Museum in 1988, Mead employed a circular breathing technique to solo on the main motif to Herb Alpert's adaptation of the Lennon/McCartney "A Taste of Honey" for over an hour, uninterrupted.