We are SO excited at the Ernest Read Symphony Orchestra to be working with Grady Hassan, the winner of our 2020 ERSO Soloist of the Year competition.
First we’ll have the chance to perform the Vaughan Williams Tuba concerto with Grady as our soloist in next summer’s Waterloo Festival Concert.
And in November 2021 we’ll premiere an exciting new piece for tuba created by ERSO’s winning composer Alex Papp
Growing up surrounded by musicians, learning a musical instrument was almost an inevitability for Grady. Upon taking up the tuba, with support from his brass teaching father, Grady was soon playing with the National Youth Brass Band of Wales, the National Youth Orchestra of Wales and the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain.
He is a recent graduate of the Royal College of Music, having completed a Masters in Performance, where he studied under Lee Tsarmaklis and Peter Smith. Whilst at RCM, Grady was a recipient of the Michael Quinn Award, the Parnassus Award and Study Award as well as winner of the 2019 tuba prize. Prior to pursuing a career in music, Grady studied a Bachelors in Biological Sciences at Imperial College London.
From 2019 to 2020, Grady participated in the LPO Foyle Future Firsts professional development scheme. During this time, Grady regularly performed as an extra with the London Philharmonic Orchestra.
In addition to his performing career, Grady is a peripatetic brass teacher for Lambeth Music Service.
“I am so excited to be performing the Vaughan Williams Tuba Concerto with the Ernest Read Symphony Orchestra. I chose this piece as it beautifully showcases some of the lesser heard qualities that the tuba has to offer. With its virtuosic cadezas, lyrical passages and playful gestures, Vaughan William’s tuba concerto is really something special. I can’t wait!”
ERSO 