Douglas Yeo - Historic Brass Speciality

Historic Brass Speciality

In addition to playing the bass trombone, Yeo plays bass trumpet, contrabass trombone, and has become a leading exponent of historical brasses such as the buccin, serpent, ophicleide and bass sackbut.

• In 2001 he joined the orchestra of Boston Baroque for performances of Monteverdi's L'Orfeo (on bass sackbut) and Handel's Music for the Royal Fireworks (on serpent), the latter of which released in 2003 on the Telarc label. He joined Boston's Handel and Haydn Society for performances of Berlioz' Symphonie Fantastique (playing ophicleide) in 2002 and in the Monteverdi Vespers of 1610 (playing bass sackbut) in 2003.

• In 2005 he played serpent with wind players from the Handel & Haydn Orchestra on the Divertimento in B flat attributed to Haydn and in Henry Purcell's Dido and Aeneas. Also in 2005 he played ophicleide in the first North American performance on original instruments of Berlioz's Romeo and Juliet with Chorus Pro Musia in Boston.

• In June 2005 he presented a paper on serpent and ophicleide players in brass bands at the Great American Brass Band Festival's History Conference (Danville, Kentucky) and also performed a solo on ophicleide accompanied by the Athena Brass Band.

• He presented a recital of music for serpent at the 2000 Historic Brass Festival at the University of Connecticut (Storrs, Connecticut), has lectured on the serpent at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, the National Music Museum in Vermillion, South Dakota and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, and is named in the New Grove II Dictionary of Music's article on the serpent.