Jazz Utopia are pleased to present the plenary performances for Rhythm Changes 2016. Buses will transport delegates from the conference site to the venues, as noted in the conference schedule (available in delegate pack). Tickets for both performances are included within the delegate pack. Saturday night’s performance will follow the conference supper, hosted at Bar Utopia- please sign up for the conference supper by clicking here.
Sean Gibb’s MOSAIC
Friday 15 April 5-6:30pm – Symphony Hall Café Bar
MOSAIC is a band led by Sean Gibbs featuring some of the most exciting players from the Birmingham jazz scene. They play compositions of Sean’s that encompass influences from the jazz tradition alongside the earthy grooves of blues, rock and whatever else takes their fancy.
Sean Gibbs – Trumpet
Ben Lee – Guitar
Andy Bunting – Piano
Nick Jurd – Bass
Euan Palmer – Drums
Mike Fletcher Jazz Orchestra
Saturday 16 April 8pm – Adrian Boult Hall
Multi-Instrumentalist and composer Mike Fletcher leads his 12 piece jazz orchestra in a performance featuring the premiere of a ne
work written by the acclaimed Scottish composer Anna Meredith.
Alongside this new work the orchestra will perform music written by their leader whose primary interest is in balancing composition with improvisation, creating music that has a “free-wheeling, experimental atmosphere and the real vibrancy that music being created in the moment can have.”
As a nominee for the ECHO Rising Stars 2014/2015 programme Mike Fletcher has recently appeared at the Barbican Centre as part of the London Jazz Festival, Hamburg’s Laiezhalle and the CBSO Centre in Birmingham.
Anna Meredith is a composer, producer and performer of both acoustic and electronic, whose sound is frequently described as maximalist and uncategorisable. Her music has been performed everywhere from the BBC Last Night of the Proms to flashmob body-percussion performances in the M6 Services, PRADA fashion campaigns, numerous films, installations and documentaries, pop festivals, clubs and classical concert halls worldwide and broadcast on Radio 1, 2, 3, 4 & 6.
Performances Birmingham Limited gratefully acknowledges financial support from the Britten-Pears Foundation, the Hinrichsen Foundation, John Feeney Charitable Trust, and PRS for Music Foundation.