[1] He was educated at King Edward VI Grammar School, Chelmsford and the Junior Department of Trinity College of Music where he studied cello and piano.

[2] Mead has performed with many leading interpreters including conductors Howard Arman, Harry Bicket, Ivor Bolton, William Christie, Stephen Cleobury, Marcus Creed, Laurence Cummings, Christian Curnyn, Alan Curtis, Ottavio Dantone, Paul Goodwin, Emmanuelle Haïm, Thomas Hengelbrock, Vladimir Jurowski, Bernard Labadie, Raymond Leppard, Nicholas Kraemer, Alessandro de Marchi, Nicholas McGegan, Marc Minkowski, James O'Donnell, Antonio Pappano, Hans-Christoph Rademann, Andreas Spering, Masaaki Suzuki and Jos van Veldhoven.

[3] He has appeared with ensembles including Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, the Academy of Ancient Music, The English Concert, Les Arts Florissants, Le Concert d'Astrée, Les Musiciens du Louvre, Concerto Köln, Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin, Balthasar-Neumann-Ensemble, Accademia Bizantina, Bach Collegium Japan, the Netherlands Bach Society, Combattimento Consort Amsterdam, and the RIAS Kammerchor.

Mead's opera roles to date have included:[6] Mead has a wide-ranging and growing discography including the multi-award-winning recording of Bach's Matthäus Passion with Pygmalion under Raphaël Pichon (Harmonia Mundi, 2022), Gramophone Award nominated recordings of Handel's Flavio with the Early Opera Company under Christian Curnyn (Chandos, 2010),[15] Bach's B minor Mass with Arcangelo under Jonathan Cohen (Hyperion, 2014) and a DVD of Britten's Death in Venice with English National Opera under Edward Gardner, directed by Deborah Warner (Opus Arte, 2014) and the BBC Music Magazine Awards nominated recording of Handel's Brockes Passion (AAM Records, 2019).

Mead's solo albums include Beauteous Softness with La Nuova Musica (Pentatone, 2023), Sacroprofano with Arcangelo (Alpha Classics, 2023), Songs & Dances with Les Musicens de Saint Julien (Alpha Classics, 2018) and Bach solo cantatas with La Nuova Musica (Harmonia Mundi, 2017).