Euphonium virtuoso Steven Mead is looking forward to two visits to France over the next two weekends, one in Metz, where he is guest at the Conservatoire in Metz, and the other as soloist at the Festi Tuba Festival in the region of Dijon.

Weekend of fun

Steve told 4BR: "It would be great to see as many French euphonium enthusiasts as possible, and any players living in surrounding European countries fancy a weekend of music and fun should check this out."

Steve arrives in Metz on the 27th March, giving a recital the next day. On the Saturday he undertakes a Masterclass from 2:00pm to 5pm at the music school, where he hopes a number of students will take part. Finally on the Sunday the visit is rounded off with a major concert.

Festi Tuba
Steve also told 4BR about the Dijon event. "It was initiated by the Federation of Music Saone-et-Loire in 2002 and the two previous events were held in Chalon sur Saone and Le Creusot with some hundred tubists across France and personalities from around the world attending."

The 2008 event will take place on April 6th in Dijon and Beaune and will include Steven, Arnaud Boukhitine and Gerard Chemama

Following on from his French trips Steven will have a short break before packing his bags and heading East to Japan on two seperate occassions, including a trip with the National Youth Brass Band of Scotland4BR

Japan

Following on from his French trips Steven will have a short break before packing his bags and heading East to Japan on two seperate occassions, including a trip with the National Youth Brass Band of Scotland.

Steven himself is a regular and popular visitor to Japan and these three visits, all generously supported by Besson and Buffet Crampon Japan will see the profile of the euphonium heightened still further

World premiere

The first visit to Japan is at the beginning of June, with Steve travelling to Osaka with the main focus been the world premiere of the new 'Euphonium Concerto' by Peter Graham. This will be performed with the Osaka Municipal Band, in Osaka, on Friday, 6th June.

Extraordinary Gentlemen

Peter Graham’s new concerto is titled 'In League with Extraordinary Gentlemen” and is in three movements in traditional concerto style.

Second visit

The second visit sees Steve as a guest soloist with the National Youth Brass band of Scotland (NYBBS) in a historic tour with the charismatic Richard Evans as conductor.