Unique chance to sound out top brass

Misa Mead have played in countless venues around the world. Photo/Supplied

Two world-class euphonium soloists from England will appear in concert with the Deco Bay Napier Port Brass Band next week.

Steven and Misa Mead will play in a concert with the band in the Salvation Army Citadel, Tait Drive, Napier, on July 18 at 7.30pm.

Steven Mead has a worldwide reputation for the quality of his playing and teaching, known to many who have a love for the euphonium.

As a soloist he plays more than 75 performances a year with a relentless schedule that has him touring as far afield as Norway, Finland, Poland, US, Canada, Italy, Japan, Lithuania and Germany. He has been described as one of the world's most recorded solo brass artists with more than 70 CDs to his credit.

Japanese born Misa Mead graduated from the Tokyo College of Music, won the Gold Medal at the European Solo Competition for Young Soloists in Luxembourg 2011, and has gone on to achieve a string of other successes as a soloist. Since July 2013 she has lived in England and performed many concerts in Europe and in Canada.

The Deco Bay Napier Port Brass Band was formed in 2014 following the amalgamation of the Port of Napier Brass Band and the Hastings Citizens Band, uniting more than 270 years of Brass Banding between them in the Hawke's Bay region.

Both bands had a tradition of providing top-quality musical performance, attested by the results by both bands achieved at both National and District Championship competitions.

"Since the amalgamation we have been able to attract a large number of players back into Brass Banding, including players from as far away as Australia," says the band publicist Wayne Myhill. "At present there is a playing membership of 32 brass and 3 percussionists, and there is a youth training band of a further 19 members."

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