Steven Mead is an English

English people

The English are a nation and ethnic group native to England, who speak English. The English identity is of early mediaeval origin, when they were known in Old English as the Anglecynn. England is now a country of the United Kingdom, and the majority of English people in England are British Citizens...

 virtuoso

Virtuoso

A virtuoso is an individual who possesses outstanding technical ability in the fine arts, at singing or playing a musical instrument. The plural form is either virtuosi or the Anglicisation, virtuosos, and the feminine form sometimes used is virtuosa...

 euphonium

Euphonium

The euphonium is a conical-bore, tenor-voiced brass instrument. It derives its name from the Greek word euphonos, meaning "well-sounding" or "sweet-voiced"...

 soloist and teacher who has played an important role in achieving worldwide recognition of the instrument.

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

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

 (Stuttgart Philharmonic Orchestra) Norway

Norway

Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...

 (Trondheim Symphony Orchestra), Finland

Finland

Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...

 (Lahti Symphony Orchestra and Helsinki Philharmonic), Poland

Poland

Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...

 (Capella Cracoviensis), USA (Minneapolis Pops Orchestra) and the Japan Chamber Orchestra. During a particularly critically acclaimed improvised performance at the Guggenheim Museum

Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum

The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum is a well-known museum located on the Upper East Side of Manhattan in New York City, United States. It is the permanent home to a renowned collection of Impressionist, Post-Impressionist, early Modern, and contemporary art and also features special exhibitions...

 in 1988,
He has premiered works by Martin Ellerby

Martin Ellerby

Martin Ellerby is an English composer. He was educated at the Royal College of Music, London, where he was taught by Joseph Horovitz....

, Torstein Aagaard-Nilsen

Torstein Aagaard-Nilsen

Torstein Aagaard-Nilsen is a contemporary Norwegian composer.- Life :Aagaard-Nilsen grew up in Kabelvåg on Lofoten in northern Norway. From 1986 to 1990 he studied at the Bergen Conservatory of Music and at the University of Bergen...

, Vladimir Cosma

Vladimir Cosma

Vladimir Cosma was born April 13, 1940 in Bucharest, Romania, into a family of musicians.His father, Teodor Cosma, was a pianist and conductor, his mother a writer-composer, his uncle, Edgar Cosma, composer and conductor, and one of his grandmothers, pianist, a student of the renowned Ferrucio...

, Goff Richards

Goff Richards

Goff Richards , sometimes credited as Godfrey Richards, was a prominent English brass band arranger and composer. He was born in Cornwall, studying at the Royal College of Music and Reading University. Between 1976 and 1989, he lectured in arranging and at Salford College of Technology. He was the...

, John Reeman, Rolf Rudin and Philip Sparke

Philip Sparke

Philip Sparke is a British composer and musician. He is noted for his concert band and brass band music.- Music for Winds :* 1973/1976 Gaudium* 1975 The Prizewinners for Brass-Band* 1978/1995 Fantasy for Euphonium...

, amongst others. Goff Richards' Pilatus, Aagaard-Nilsen's Concerto for Euphonium and Orchestra, Reeman's Sonata for Euphonium and Ellerby's Euphonium Concerto were all written expressly for Mead.

Mead has developed a series of mouthpieces

Mouthpiece (brass)

On brass instruments the mouthpiece is the part of the instrument which is placed upon the player's lips. The purpose of the mouthpiece is a resonator, which passes vibration from the lips to the column of air contained within the instrument, giving rise to the standing wave pattern of vibration in...

 for brass instruments, as well as the Besson

Besson (company)

Besson is a manufacturer of brass musical instrument. It is owned by Buffet Crampon, which bought Besson in 2006 from The Music Group.The company was formed in 1837 by Gustave Auguste Besson, who at the age of 18 produced a revolutionary design of cornet which surpassed all contemporary models. His...

 Prestige Euphonium and is on the faculty of the Royal Northern College of Music

Royal Northern College of Music

The Royal Northern College of Music is a music school in Manchester, England. It is located on Oxford Road in Chorlton on Medlock, at the western edge of the campus of the University of Manchester and is one of four conservatories associated with the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music...

, School of Wind, Brass and Percussion.

Selected recordings

• Joseph Horovitz
  Joseph Horovitz
  Joseph Horovitz is a British composer and conductor. Horovitz's family emigrated to England in 1938. He studied music and modern languages at New College, Oxford, and later attended the Royal College of Music in London, studying composition with Gordon Jacob. He then undertook a year of further...
  
  : Four Concertos

Ensemble: Royal Ballet Sinfonia; Soloists: Andrew Haveron (violin), Steven Mead (euphonium), David Owen Norris

David Owen Norris

-Life:Norris was born in 1953. He studied music at Keble College, Oxford where he was organ scholar; he is now an Honorary Fellow of the college. After leaving Oxford, he studied composition, and worked at the Royal Opera House as a repetiteur...

 (piano); Conductor Joseph Horovitz; Label: Dutton Epoch.

• Concertino

Ensemble: The Lillestrøm Musikkorps; Soloist: Steven Mead (euphonium); Conductor Gert Buitenhuis; Label: Polyphonic.

• Euphonium Virtuoso

Ensemble: Brass Band Buizingen; Soloist: Steven Mead (euphonium); Conductor: Luc Vertommen; Label: Bocchino.

• Dreamscapes: Wind Music by Ellerby
  Martin Ellerby
  Martin Ellerby is an English composer. He was educated at the Royal College of Music, London, where he was taught by Joseph Horovitz....
  
  , Clarke & Josephs
  Wilfred Josephs
  -Life:Born in Gosforth, Newcastle upon Tyne, Wilfred Josephs had his first musical studies in Newcastle with Arthur Milner, and showed early promise, but was persuaded by his parents to take up a 'sensible' career. He subsequently became a dentist, qualifying as a Bachelor of Dental Surgery of the...
  
  

Ensemble: Royal Northern College of Music Wind Orchestra; Soloist: Steven Mead (euphonium); Conductor: James Gourlay

James Gourlay

James Gourlay is a British conductor and internationally renowned tuba soloist.He was born in Scotland and began to play in his local brass band at an early age. He took part in numerous solo competitions at that time and soon became Scottish Champion at junior and open levels...

; Label: Polyphonic.

• Audacious

Soloist: Steven Mead; Accompanied by Tomoko Sawano, piano; Label: Bocchino.

• Fandango, released June 1, 2011; Accompanied by Tomoko Sawano, piano; Label: Bocchino.

External links

• Steven Mead's official website
• Steven Mead's UK based brass sales website
• Video of a live unedited performance, most of the third movement of the Hallows Concerto (Rolf Rudin) in a performance given by Steven at The Capitol Theatre, Offenbach, Germany on Sunday 15 March 2009, with the Neue Philharmonie Orchestra, conductor Roland Boer