The Melton Tuba Quartet was founded in 1987. It is the first and to date only one of its kind in Germany, as it consists of four professional tuba players. Through their numerous activities at home and abroad, they have secured a permanent place for themselves in the music world.
The extremely positive response to the first concerts led to a large number of events. Appearances on radio and television, at domestic and foreign music festivals such as the International Tuba Congress "Verso il Millenio" in Riva del Garda, Italy in 1997, or the Army Band Tuba Conference in Washington, USA in 1999 and 2006, concerts at the Kanzlerfest, the Rheingau Musik Festival and the Brandenburgische Sommerkonzerte, as well as in the sold-out Berlin Philharmonie, reflect the range of the Melton Tuba Quartet.
An important focus of the group's work is developing educational projects for young people. With humorous and informative children's and family concerts, the ensemble introduces the tuba and its music to young and young-at-heart people of all ages.
The four musicians have attracted the attention of renowned composers with their own seminars, master classes and the debut CD “Premiere”. Three more CD productions followed soon afterwards: “Lazy Elephants” (1995), “Power” (1999), as well as “What a Wonderful World” (2005). Works written especially for the Melton Tuba Quartett are published in the “Edition Melton Tuba Quartett” series by Bruno Uetz due to popular demand.
With the world premiere of the innovative work “Grand Concerto 4 Tubas” by John Stevens, the Melton Tuba Quartet opened a new chapter and presented its fifth CD of the same name, a co-production with the Duisburg Philharmonic Orchestra. Finally, at the end of 2016, the latest CD “Featuring the Meltons” was released as the ensemble's sixth production.
In 2017, the world premiere of the Concerto grosso No. 1 for tuba quartet and large string orchestra with harp and percussion by Bochum composer Stefan Heucke took place in the newly reopened Kulturpalast in Dresden. After the “Grand Concerto 4 Tubas”, it was only the second work ever written for tuba quartet and orchestra. Further performances in Dresden and in the historic city hall of Wuppertal were extremely successful.
With charmingly entertaining and captivating live concerts and original video clips, the Melton Tuba Quartet has been thrilling its fans for many decades and is planning many more exciting projects.