School of Music, Theatre and Dance

OU Brass Band to welcome acclaimed euphonium virtuoso Steven Mead on Dec. 2

icon of a calendarNovember 20, 2018

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OU Brass Band to welcome acclaimed euphonium virtuoso Steven Mead on Dec. 2
Steven Mead
Internationally acclaimed euphonium virtuoso Steven Mead will join the OU Brass Band for a memorable afternoon of brass music artistry beginning at 3 p.m. on Sunday, Dec. 2 in Varner Recital Hall.

Internationally acclaimed euphonium virtuoso Steven Mead will join the OU Brass Band for a memorable afternoon of brass music artistry beginning at 3 p.m.  on Sunday, Dec. 2 in Varner Recital Hall.

“Steve’s appearance with the OU Brass Band is a result of conversations we had during his two-day residence here at OU last March,” said Dr. Kenneth Kroesche, an associate professor of music and conductor of the OU Brass Band.

“Having just adjudicated the band during its winning performance at the Dublin Festival of Brass, he was very interested to appear as a soloist with us,” Kroesche added.

In addition to being named Grand Champions at the festival, the OU Brass Band also won in the categories of Best March, Best Slow Melody and Best Major Work. Mead called the band’s performance “rich, textured and homogeneous.”

“It was wonderful to hear such an authentic ‘English’ sound to the ensemble,” he said. “The performance of ‘Essence of Time’ in particular was a joy.”

Widely regarded as one of the most successful euphonium soloists in the world today, Mead performs over 75 concerts per years 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 the Stuttgart Philharmonic Orchestra in Germany, the Trondheim Symphony Orchestra in Norway, the Lahti Symphony Orchestra and Helsinki Philharmonic in Finland, the Capella Cracoviensis in Poland, the Minneapolis Pops Orchestra in the United States, and the Japan Chamber Orchestra in Japan.

Mead has also appeared as soloist with many of the leading military bands in the world including the Band of the Garde Republicaine in Paris, France; the Central Band of the RAF in London, England; the Italian Police, Carabinieri, and Army Bands in Rome, Italy; the Dutch Marine Band in Rotterdam, Netherlands; and the US Army Band in Washington D.C. 

Tickets for the Dec. 2 performance are $8 for students, $10 for the general public and can be purchased online at startickets.com.

For more information, contact the School of Music, Theatre and Dance at 248-370-2030 or [email protected].

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