ANTONY MIZEN
Tony Mizen was a classical guitar teacher for many years before encountering the ukulele. When he was asked to teach the instrument to a beginner, he quickly became deeply absorbed! He studied the syllabus for the Victoria College of Music in England and was the first person to be awarded the AVCM diploma in ukulele performance.
After some experimentation, he became fascinated with how well the ukulele can imitate the sound of a lute and this eventually led to the publication of From Lute to Uke by Flea Market Music, Inc., followed by The Baroque Ukulele and The Romantic Ukulele from the same publisher. The music from these books then found their way into the Victoria College exam syllabus.
Tony later collaborated in a book of ukulele duets with Paul Mansell. The result was 2ukulele published by Kevin Mayhew. This was followed by two books of his own compositions: Onwards & Upwards and Arthropoda both published by the Ukulele Bookshop. Some of the best ukulele players in the world have given excellent performances of these pieces on YouTube and Facebook.
In 2021, Tony was interviewed by a journalist from the magazine The Idler. The article about his books appeared in the December edition of that year.
Tony's interest in early music expanded to include a profound appreciation of John Dowland's lute songs, which he began to arrange for solo ukulele. An offer from Mel Bay Publications to publish these arrangements delighted and motivated him to complete this book.