Mike Fletcher

Multi-instrumentalist and composer Mike Fletcher performs throughout the UK and Europe. As a nominee for the ECHO Rising Stars 2014/2015 programme he has recently appeared at the Barbican Centre as part of the London Jazz Festival, Hamburg’s Laiezhalle and the CBSO Centre in Birmingham.

Mike works predominantly in the field of jazz and improvised music. His 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.’ Mike’s three main projects are the Mike Fletcher Trio, the Different Trane nonet and 12-piece Mike Fletcher Jazz Orchestra.

As a soloist Mike performs and records with Paul Dunmall’s sextet, Tony Bianco’s Utoma and with the improvising trio Fletcher/Brice/Jozwiak, whose album Nick Of Time is available on Slam Productions. In 2013 Mike was chosen by BBC Radio 3 to tour on lead alto with the European Jazz Orchestra under the direction of Ann-Sofi Søderqvist. In 2014 he was named as an ECHO Rising Star by Birmingham Symphony Hall and will be performing with his trio at 10 major concert halls across Europe during 2014/2015.

Mike has appeared in clubs and jazz festivals across the UK (EFG London Jazz Festival/Cheltenham Jazz Festival/Manchester Jazz Festival), Europe (Outono Em Jazz – Portugal, Autumn Leaves Festival – Luxembourg) and internationally (Cambio S Festival – Brazil, IAJE Conference – Toronto). His work has been featured on BBC Radio, Sverige Radio (Sweden) and SRG SSR (Switzerland).

Mike’s interest in music began in the family home - his parents’ love of jazz, classical and folk music infected him from an early age. A professional performer from the age of 16, he began touring the UK and Europe with the Midland Youth Jazz Orchestra before going on to study jazz performance at the Birmingham Conservatoire, graduating with an honors degree in 2005. In 2014 he returned to the same institution to begin a PhD in composition.

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