Tuba Concertos?

[TheOddEnigma]

The last concert that I will ever be playing in high school is our school's Concerto Night, typically 5 or 6 concertos are selected by my director after we audition for him (usually 2 strings, and 3 winds, or vice versa) and our school has never known the pleasure of a tuba concerto!

To really make my senior year pop, I would really like to go for one of the concerto spots. Problem is, I can't seem to find any pieces to play.

I play a BBb Holton Harvey Phillips. The piece can be arranged for strings or winds. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated or if you need more information let me know!

[ralphbsz]

I'm sure other people will mention the big ones (RVW etc.). So here is an alternate suggestion: Lebedev. It's short (8 or 9 minutes), more late romantic than modern, and supposedly (according to some review I read) it fits better for a contrabass (BBb or CC) tuba, while most other concertos are a better fit for bass (F) tuba.

[Tubaman2365]

Ralph suggested one of the pieces that I was going to suggest. The Lebedev is a great piece for what you are looking for. Another suggestion I would give would be the Haddad Suite for Tuba. It's a fun piece to play and certainly a solo that works well on BBb tuba. Though not a concerto, I think it would work well.

[Jay Bertolet]

The Gregson Tuba Concerto has arrangements for Wind Ensemble, Orchestra, and even Brass Band. It is a manageable piece and the first movement is a very effective stand alone piece of music. You can check out performances of the Gregson on YouTube (there are plenty) to see if you can handle the technical demands. If that piece doesn't suit you, any of the myriad theme and variation works (Carnival of Venice, Napoli, Blue Bells of Scotland, etc.) are very effective showpieces and most have an ensemble accompaniment. Good luck!

[Uncle Buck]

The Concertino by Arthur Frackenpohl is worth considering.

[tubaman1019]

You can try stepping outside of Tuba world and play stuff for other instruments too. I really like the Capuzzi concerto for double bass in F. It works really well on a contrabass and its not too difficult.

[J.c. Sherman]

The Concertino by Arthur Frackenpohl is worth considering.

+1 (and it's tolerable for an audience too)