Professor of Baritone Horn and Tutor in Chamber Music at the Royal Northern College of Music, Mike Cavanagh is also Solo Baritone of the world-famous Black Dyke Band, a member of the highly acclaimed chamber ensemble A4 Brass Quartet and a Performance Artist for Besson Musical Instruments.

A graduate of the Royal Northern College of Music (RNCM) with First Class Honours, whilst studying at the RNCM Mike was a co-founder of the multi award-winning A4 Brass Quartet and has since developed a prolific career as a chamber musician.  With A4 Brass Mike has won the internationally recognised Royal Over-Seas League Chamber Music competition; the Royal Philharmonic Society Henderson Chamber Music prize; the Musicians’ Company Maisie Lewis Young Artist Award; a Tunnell Trust Award; the Tillett Trust Young Artists’ Platform and selection as City Music Foundation Artists, based in London. He has also delivered multiple interactive live music sessions as a practitioner and workshop leader with Live Music Now and Music in Hospitals & Care, helping to transform lives through the power of live music.

Mike prides himself on taking the Baritone Horn to new audiences and venues for the instrument. As a chamber musician, performance highlights with A4 Brass include appearances at Wigmore Hall, Cadogan Hall, Bridgewater Hall, Queen Elizabeth Hall, Saffron Hall and Purcell Room in addition to concerts in Japan, Lithuania, Finland and Switzerland.  As part of A4 Brass, Mike completed the prestigious RNCM International Artist Diploma in Chamber Music as a John Fewkes Scholar and was subsequently invited to become an Honorary Associate Artist of the RNCM in recognition of the quartet’s success in the music profession. In 2020, Mike became an Associate Member of the RNCM (ARNCM) with A4 Brass Quartet – the first and only ensemble ever to be awarded this prestigious title.

As a band member with the Black Dyke Band and Grimethorpe Colliery Band, Mike’s performance career has taken him to many of the UK’s leading concert venues including the Royal Albert Hall, Symphony Hall, The Sage, Snape Maltings and Perth Concert Hall as well as performing on the Pyramid Stage at Glastonbury. Mike has appeared as a concerto soloist with Black Dyke at the World Music Contest Gala Concert in Kerkrade, Netherlands, as well as at the 2023 and 2024 RNCM International Brass Band Festivals which were also featured on BBC Radio 3. Overseas performances include Australia, Japan, South Korea, Uganda, France, Belgium, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Italy, Switzerland, Lithuania & the Netherlands, further demonstrating Mike’s desire to showcase the Baritone Horn to new audiences worldwide.