Concerto on Euphonium Studio

Concerto for Euphonium

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

Philip Wilby’s concerto is one of the most demanding and rewarding works written for the instrument, weaving virtuoso display into a serious musical architecture. It calls for command across the entire range, fearless technique, and interpretive maturity, and has become a signature vehicle for the leading soloists of the current generation.

David Childs

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

David Childs, of the celebrated Welsh brass-playing Childs family, has been at the forefront of the euphonium’s push toward full recognition as a classical solo instrument. He has performed euphonium concertos with major symphony orchestras — a rare achievement for the instrument — and has commissioned and premiered a substantial body of new concert works, extending the repertoire beyond its brass-band roots.

As a soloist and teacher he represents the generation that grew up with the modern repertoire already in place and has pushed it outward, insisting on the euphonium’s place alongside other solo instruments in the concerto tradition. His father, Robert Childs, and uncle Nicholas are themselves major figures in the brass-band world.

Euphonium Concerto

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

Vladimir Cosma, best known for his French film scores, brings a cinematic warmth and melodic directness to the euphonium concerto. The writing favours the instrument’s singing qualities and its capacity for long, shapely lines, wrapped in colourful orchestration. It has broadened the euphonium’s concert profile beyond the band world into the orchestral hall.

Euphonium Concerto

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

Martin Ellerby’s concerto ranges widely in mood across its movements, including a much-loved slow movement (“Album Leaf”) whose lyricism has made it a popular excerpt in its own right. Written for Steven Mead, it exists in both brass-band and wind-band scorings and has become one of the defining concertos of the 1990s repertoire boom.

Euphonium Concerto

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

Joseph Horovitz’s concerto, written for the brass band and later arranged for other forces, is for many players the euphonium concerto: melodically generous, cleanly constructed in three movements, and grateful to play. The slow movement is a particular showcase for legato and tone, while the finale gives the soloist plenty of brilliance. Its popularity has made it a benchmark against which players measure both their sound and their stamina.

Euphonium Concerto

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

Sparke’s concerto is a full-scale statement of what the modern euphonium can do: brilliant outer movements framing a songful slow movement, all written with the composer’s characteristic idiomatic ease. It has become a staple of the international solo circuit and a frequent choice for competition finals, demanding secure high register, flexible lyricism, and real endurance.

Euphonium Concerto No. 1, Op. 64

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

John Golland’s first euphonium concerto is prized for its emotional intensity — dark, lyrical, and harmonically rich, with a slow movement that many players consider among the most moving in the repertoire. It sits firmly in the British brass-band tradition and remains a favourite for players who want expressive depth over surface brilliance.

Euphonium Concerto, Op. 120

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

Derek Bourgeois’s concerto is one of the repertoire’s genuine endurance tests: harmonically adventurous, structurally ambitious, and unforgiving in its demands on range, agility, and stamina. Players who take it on are making a statement, and it rewards the effort with some of the most dramatic writing the instrument has. It is a recital centrepiece rather than an introduction.

Fantasy for Euphonium

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

Gordon Jacob’s Fantasy is often cited as the work that opened the modern euphonium repertoire — a piece of real compositional weight written by an established orchestral composer specifically for the instrument. Cast as a continuous fantasy rather than a multi-movement concerto, it moves between lyrical, singing writing that shows off the euphonium’s vocal tone and brisk, agile passagework that proves its technical range. It remains a standard audition and recital choice.