Euphonium star Steven Mead is set to perform as the guest soloist at the famous Deutsches Musikfest (German Music Festival) in the city of Chemnitz, in Saxony.

Every five years

15,000 musicians descend on the city for 4 days every five years for music making, seminars, workshops and concerts.

Steven will perform in the prestigious Gala Concert on Saturday 11th May at the Opera House with the Polizeiorchester Bayern (Munich Police Band), one of the top professional wind bands in Germany.

Premiere

The main featured contribution will be the premiere of ‘Euphonic’ by the leading Austrian composer Franz Cibulka — a groundbreaking new work in jazz/big band style.

Honour

Steven told 4BR: "It’s is a huge honour to be invited to play at this historically important German music festival, and to have the euphonium as the featured solo instrument is an indication of how much it has become accepted in this country in the last 20 years.

I'm looking forward to the premiere of ‘Euphonic’ very much indeed. It is a quite amazing work!"

It’s is a huge honour to be invited to play at this historically important German music festival, and to have the euphonium as the featured solo instrumentSteven Mead

Artistic Director

In addition to his busy solo schedule, Steven has also been appointed Artistic Director of the Jeju International Wind Ensemble Festival, one of the largest music festivals in the world, based on the island of Jeju, South Korea.

This annual festival invites bands from all round the Asia, including South Korea, Japan, Singapore, Thailand, China, Hong Kong and Malaysia, as well as bands from Europe and USA.

Steven is the first European artistic director in the festival's 18 year history and he hopes that in his four year tenure he can help promote brass band representation at the event.