Steve Irvine first started playing the tuba during his primary school days.

Back then the St. Michael’s Primary School pupil never would have imagined that he would end up playing the instrument professionally with the acclaimed Ulster Orchestra, of which he has now been a member for over 13 years.

“I have been playing since I was eight,” said Steve, who explained that he got the instrument from his primary school.

“I wasn’t very good at the start. It was more that I’d try this thing out. I was having piano lessons and singing lessons beforehand, so I just got the tuba and thought there was no harm in learning that so I decided to just give it a go,” he shared, adding that he was actually better at playing the piano at the time.

Steve had tuba lessons with Bob Quick in Enniskillen up until he was 16. “Bob then recommended that I have lessons with the former tuba player in the Ulster Orchestra, Ewan Easton. So I started having lessons with him from when I was 17 for a couple of years before I went to the Royal College of Music in London. I was there for six years and then I went to Tenerife and got a job over there with the Orchestra Symphonic Tenerife.”

He had been playing professionally in Tenerife when he saw the Ulster Orchestra job advertised online.

“I thought it would be great to come back home so gave it a go. I knew it’d be difficult and I’d need a good bit of luck. I had to do an audition with lots of other people. There were 10 from the audition that were selected for trial. I was so pleased when I got the job and I was just delighted to get back home. That was 2006 when I joined,” Steve shared, adding: “I’ve been in the orchestra now over 13 years, I have played a number of times in the Ardhowen and we’ve done lots of education concerts in the Lakeland Forum so it’s always nice to come back home. It’s always a nice feeling playing in your hometown.”

Originally from Silverhill, Enniskillen Steve currently lives in North Dublin but commutes to Belfast almost everyday for the Ulster Orchestra.

When asked how often he practises, Steve said: “With the orchestra it’ll usually be a four or five day week and we’ll normally have at least two concerts in that week.”

He continued: “I wouldn’t practise much during the week when I’m with the orchestra because you have to watch your chops, your lips, because if you play too much they can swell up a bit. I’d always try to practise at weekends when I’m off, I’m always trying to improve and also for stamina as well. It’s an essential ingredient. “I don’t know anyone in a professional orchestra that doesn’t practise a lot. The most important thing is to work hard and practise,” added Steve.

Over the years Steve has played in many different venues but he regards playing in an amphitheatre in Sicily as the most unusual.

“In the World Youth Orchestra when I was 21 I played in this outdoor amphitheatre in Sicily and there were basically rocks behind us. The weather was so warm you could get away with it. It looked like it was made by Fred Flinstone, it was very strange. I thought the acoustics would be awful but it actually worked out well,” said Steve.

Sharing how experiencing the Ulster Orchestra in his youth inspired him to pursue a career in music, Steve commented: “The education concerts we do, I think are so important to kids growing up today.

“I’d never heard an orchestra before I was 10 and I went to an Ulster Orchestra concert in the Ardhowen, I think it was a school trip. It was an unbelievable experience, the first time I’d heard a live orchestra it put thoughts into my head of having a career in it,” Steve told The Impartial Reporter.