20 year old Lewis Musson became the 2011 BBC Radio 2 Young Brass Soloist at the RNCM in Manchester on Saturday evening.

Musson’s performances of ‘Danse Du Diable’ (Dance of the Green Devil) and Paul Lovatt Cooper’s 'Neath the Dublin Skies’ was enough to convince judges Paul Archibald and Les Neish that he should follow some illustrious colleagues and take the title.

Lewis becomes the third euphonium player to take the award following the previous successes of Brenden Wheeler and Matthew White.

Winning comments

Addressing the capacity audience and Radio 2 host Frank Renton about the winner, adjudicator Les Neish said...'Lewis captured the element of performance.'

High quality

Jonathan Bates, Michael Cavanagh and James McLeod were the other competitors in a final where the overall standard was incredibly high.

Jonathan Bates included his own composition entitled 'Rondo' in his programme, whilst Michael Cavanagh chose music of John Golland amongst his selections. James McLeod performed the popular ‘Brilliante’ and traditional ‘Myfanwy’ for his challenge.

Tonight's winner captured the element of performanceLes Neish

Winners list

Musson now joins a list of winners that includes, Katrina Marzella, Stephen Sykes, Ben Thomson, Brenden Wheeler and Matthew White — all regarded as some of the finest young brass talent of their generation.

All of the soloists were accompanied by Black Dyke conducted by Dr Nicholas Childs.

Final broadcast on Radio 2

The final will be broadcast on BBC Radio 2 on Thursday 24th February at 10.00pm.

A retrospective of the final will appear on 4BR soon.