American on Euphonium Studio

Brian Bowman

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Brian Bowman did more than perhaps any other player to establish the euphonium as a serious solo instrument in the United States. As euphonium soloist with the U.S. Air Force Band and later as professor at the University of North Texas, he combined a career of high-profile solo performance with decades of influential teaching, training a large share of the American professional and academic euphonium community.

His playing set a standard for tone and musicianship that shaped American expectations of the instrument, and his advocacy — through recordings, clinics, and the commissioning of new works — helped build the modern solo repertoire. For many American players, the line of teaching runs back to Bowman within a generation or two.

Leonard Falcone

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Leonard Falcone was one of the first virtuosi to demonstrate what the baritone/euphonium could do as a lyrical solo instrument in America. Born in Italy and long associated with Michigan State University, where he directed the bands for decades, he was renowned for a singing, vocal style of playing modelled on the human voice and the great operatic tradition of his homeland.

His influence outlived his performing career through the Leonard Falcone International Euphonium and Tuba Festival, a major competition that has helped launch and validate generations of soloists. Falcone belongs to the instrument’s founding generation in the United States — proof, well before the modern repertoire existed, that the euphonium deserved to be taken seriously as a voice.