Following the success of the creation on an online Besson European Ensemble and Besson Italian Ensemble in the Summer of 2020, 15 outstanding performers have now joined together to create the Besson Asian Euphonium Ensemble.

Driving force

The driving force behind the initiative has been Misa Mead, herself a Besson artist who has gained a worldwide following on social media with her inventive tutoring and performance features during the Covid-19 lockdown.

Misa told 4BR: "Asia has been able to enjoy more freedom from the restrictions imposed by Covid-19 than other areas of the world, but it was still important to reach out to show the brass world that there is a togetherness in what we do as artists whatever format we choose to perform on.

Bringing these wonderful players together has been such a joyful experience — encouraging, supportive and inspirational. It's been great to be able to engage together in this way. We all hope people enjoy the music."

Hallelujah

Joined by Steven Mead, all the performers are Besson artists with Misa hoping that a small part of their musical personality shines through with her special arrangement of Leonard Cohen's 'Hallelujah'.

"Knowing each of the players meant that we could play a small part in creating the music and make it much more of a personal tribute.

I hope the audience feels our love from this video from the messages from the players."

I hope the audience feels our love from this video from the messages from the playersMisa Mead

To enjoy:

https://www.facebook.com/BessonBrass/videos/124152766274986

The Besson Asian Euphonium Ensemble:

Akihiko Ito (Japan/Taiwan)
Boonyarit Kittaweepitak (Thailand)
Hidenori Arai (Japan)
Hiromasa Kimura (Japan)
Jun Yamaoka (Japan)
Kang Chun Meng (Singapore)
Misa Mead (Japan/UK)
Rie Kaizuka (Japan)
Ryuji Ushigami (Japan)
Sotaro Fukaishi (Japan)
Tzu-Hsiang Lin (Taiwan)
Yu-Han Yang (Taiwan / UK)
Yuki Iida (Japan)
Yuko Kamata (Japan)