When I was out in my car running an errand this past Saturday, I turned on NPR radio and caught some of the program, "From the Top". The soloist was in the middle of his performance and I thought to myself, 'this sounds like a euphonium!'. Well - no. It was a tuba. The featured artists was 18 y.o. Sodienye Finebone (tubist) from the Atlanta, GA area. He's a student of Michael Moore (principal tuba with Atlanta Symphony). Sodienye played the third movement of Gregson's Tuba concerto (III - Allegro giocoso). You can listen to some of it here:

Gregson: Tuba Concerto - III - Allegro giocoso

I think he did a fine job! In his interview, he said he chose tuba in middle school because he was a little lazy and the tuba looked pretty easy to play. He first looked at the sax and clarinet, but when he saw all the keys, he thought there were just too many notes to have to learn. He next looked at the trumpet and saw it only had "3 buttons"... but his lips wouldn't fit in the mpc. Then saw the tuba with 3 buttons and his lips fit just fine" (the crowd cracked up). They had an interview with his private teacher, Michael Moore, who really spoke highly of Sodienye. Michael said, "If we both auditioned today for the same job, Sodienye would have gotten the gig". Well, I'm pretty sure that was a bit of an exaggeration, but really nice tribute to his student.

Here's a picture of Sodienye:


Campbell High School alum takes musical talent to new heights