Steven and Misa Mead began playing duets virtually as soon as they met, and their first concert as a duo  occurred just a few months after Misa arrived in the UK in 2013. Almost immediately they began to receive works from composers in the UK, in Europe and around the world, and some of these works are featured on their duet CD released in 2017, Love’s Joy.

Misa Mead was born in the city of Kumamoto, in the south west of Japan. She graduated from Tokyo College of Music in 2008. At both high school and university she was a scholarship student. Mead won the unanimous Gold Medal at the European Solo Competition for Young Soloists in Luxembourg 2011, as well winning the first prize at the 4th All-Japan Junior High and Senior High School Students Wind Instruments Solo Contest, 2000, and the 25th All Kyushu Music Competition Gold Award 2001. At the highly prestigious Jeju International Wind and Percussion Solo Competition 2012 and 2014, South Korea, she won third prize. Mead graduated with Honors at the Conservatoire à Rayonnement Régional de Paris in 2012. She appeared as a guest artist in March 2013 at Tubamania Festivals in Thailand and May 2013 at the South West Region Tuba Euphonium Conference in California, USA, performing her own compositions. In 2013 she was appointed High School performance assistant at the Tokyo College of Music. She also worked closely with the Tokyo-based Spiel Kammerensemble.

Steven Mead is an English virtuoso euphonium soloist and teacher who has played an important role in achieving worldwide recognition of the instrument. He has played solo concerti with symphony orchestras, including: the Stuttgart Philharmonic Orchestra, the Trondheim Symphony Orchestra, Lahti Symphony Orchestra and Helsinki Philharmonic, Capella Cracoviensis, the Minneapolis Pops Orchestra and the Japan Chamber Orchestra.