Steven's musical education began at the age of nine both as a choral scholar at Wakefield Cathedral and playing with local brass bands near his home in Yorkshire.

In autumn 2005, Steven embarked upon an ERASMUS exchange with the Universität für Musik und darstellende Kunst in Vienna before resuming his undergraduate studies with Lindsay Shilling, Byron Fulcher and Graham Lee at the Royal College of Music in February 2006. Whilst in Austria, he was supported by the Royal Philharmonic Society’s Julius Isserlis Scholarship and benefited immensely under the guidance of Dietmar Küblböck and Ian Bousfield from the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra. At this time, Steven played with the Hofmusikkapelle Orchestra, reached the final of the BBC Radio 2 Young Brass Soloist competition and was selected as a member of the European Union Youth Orchestra.

Following on from his undergraduate degree Steven embarked upon a Masters Degree at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. A Scholar at the GSMD; Steven developed many musical ideas under the tutorage of Eric Crees, Peter Gane and Simon Wills. He has performed extensively throughout the UK with several brass bands and orchestras and also as a soloist. In his younger days, working with bands such as Black Dyke, Brighouse and Rastrick, Fairey and Grimethorpe Colliery Band enabled Steven to perform in the Bridgewater Hall, Birmingham Symphony Hall, The Royal Festival Hall, The Barbican and The Royal Albert Hall. Whilst in his first year at the College Steven was invited to play principal trombone in the RCM Symphony Orchestra and from November 2005 he gave several solo recitals at St George’s Church in Hanover Square as part of the ‘Music in Mayfair’ Concert Series.

His orchestral experience is extensive and includes trials for Principal Trombone with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra and Sub Principal Trombone with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales and performances with the Philharmonia Orchestra, Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, The Aurelian Ensemble, London Soloists and concertos with the Leeds Chamber Orchestra. Performing with the National Symphony Orchestra Steven has enjoyed working with artists such as Katherine Jenkins, Hayley Westenra, Garder Thor Cortes and Aled Jones. Steven has performed in several ‘side-by-side’ schemes with The London Symphony Orchestra which included masterclasses from Patrick Harrild and Dudley Bright. He has also participated in masterclasses with Joseph Alessi, Christian Lindberg, Jiggs Whigham and Jörgen van Rijen from the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra.

In 2002 Steven became the inaugural winner of the Maud Wright award after performing with The National Youth Brass Band of Great Britain on principal trombone and has won several Graucob bursaries at the Royal Northern College of Music. This has enabled him to study with such eminent musicians as Denis Wick, Chris Houlding and John Kenny. Broadening his horizons, Steven has enjoyed performing with the National Youth Jazz Orchestra, studying the alto trombone with Byron Fulcher, bass trombone with Keith McNicol sackbut with Adam Woolf and Euphonium with Eric Crees.

Steven’s reporting portfolio began to take shape after being commissioned by The Brass Herald to write a feature article on the Royal College of Music for publication May 2005. This was followed by further commissions to write articles on the Junior Department at the RCM, the Brass Band of Battle Creek and Musical Life in Vienna. In addition to this, during his time in Vienna, Steven was asked by the RCM to write for their first ever 'Web Log' enabling prospective students to gain an insight into an ERASMUS exchange programme.

Recordings include Arnell - Piano Concerto Op 44 and Symphony No 2 with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra (Epoch label), 'Katherine In The Park'(DVD) with Katherine Jenkins and the National Symphony Orchestra, 'A Winter's Tale' for Martin Winter, 'British Brass' and 'The History of Brass Bands' with Grimethorpe Colliery Band, 'The Start of Something Big' with the Rothwell Temperance Band and the première recording of 'Grow Old along with Me' by John Lennon. Steven also enjoys the music of many West End musicals and has performed in Evita at the Adelphi Theatre and Spamalot at the Palace Theatre in London as well as a production of Chess in Oslo, the UK tour of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, the 2007 UK tour of Fame and twelve months performing West Side Story both in London and around the UK.

Click Here for a downloadable CV.