Birmingham Jazz Orchestra

Photo © Garry Corbett

6.30pm Support
7.30pm Main show

The Birmingham Jazz Orchestra is made up of internationally renowned musicians based in or associated with Birmingham, many of whom are key creative voices on the Birmingham music scene. The ensemble aims to showcase the composing and improvising talents of its members, as well as featuring guest artists. For this concert, they will be featuring original music from the lead alto chair in the orchestra Mike Fletcher.

Mike is first and foremost a saxophonist and he most commonly performs on this instrument, either as the leader of one of his own projects – the Mike Fletcher Trio, Cuarteto Español, Mike Fletcher Jazz Orchestra – or as a sideman with ensembles including the Olie Brice Quintet, the flamenco-jazz project Cuarteto Majao or Jonathan Silk Big Band. In 2015 he was nominated by Birmingham Symphony Hall to participate in the ECHO Rising Stars programme, and in 2013 was chosen by the BBC to represent the UK as lead alto with the European Jazz Orchestra. 

As a composer, Mike works across genres from jazz, contemporary classical to theatre and film. In 2017 he composed and conducted the music for the Royal Shakespeare Company’s production of Dido, Queen of Carthage – described as "one of the most beautiful scores…at the RSC for a very long time." In 2013 he was commissioned by Jazzlines/THSH to write and perform a suite of music as part of a celebration of the work of Steve Reich. His large ensemble music has been performed by soloists such as Lee Konitz, Andrew D’Angelo and Dan Weiss. He is the director in residence with the Clasijazz Big Band S&F, based in Almeria, Spain. In this capacity he has worked with jazz luminaries such as Benny Golson, Barry Harris and Lee Konitz.