B:Music, the music charity responsible for Birmingham’s Town Hall and Symphony Hall, has announced two new commissions for young Birmingham-based jazz musicians, which will premiere in a double bill on the iconic Symphony Hall stage in October.

Baritone saxophonist Alicia Gardener-Trejo and guitarist Steve Saunders are the successful applicants in this year’s annual Jazzlines Commission, and they will perform their new compositions at the world-renowned Symphony Hall in the heart of Birmingham on Sunday 30 October.

The B:Music Jazzlines Commission, now in its third year, is a unique talent development opportunity that pairs two individual Birmingham jazz artists with artists of their choice from outside Birmingham to each co-create a 45-minute set of brand-new music. The two newly formed groups or pairs will produce new collaborative projects to showcase the breadth of talent that Birmingham has to offer and place it at the forefront of the UK jazz scene, as well as giving the up-and-coming musicians the platform to showcase their music.

This year sees Alicia Gardener-Trejo working with Scottish bass player Brodie Jarvie, and Steve Saunders working with Danish alto saxophonist Asger Nissen. Alicia and Steve will be supported by the B:Music team and given use of spaces in Symphony Hall and Town Hall for rehearsals and development.

Alicia Gardener-Trejo is a Birmingham-based multi-instrumentalist, composer and educator. She has collaborated with artists including Percy Pursglove, Jeff Williams, Natalie Sandtorv, Jason Singh, Mark Sanders, Faye MacCalman and Paul Dunmall, and is a member of Surge Orchestra, Gospel Revisited Project, Reworkestra and Birmingham Jazz Orchestra. Alicia’s own bands include the 12-piece ensemble Bobtail and collaborative improvised music trio Bobhowler. As a composer, she has been commissioned to write for the Greater Manchester Jazz Orchestra and Surge Orchestra, and has featured on recordings played on BBC Radio 3, Jazz FM, BBC Scotland and BBC Radio 6 Music.

For the B:Music Jazzlines Commission, Alicia will be leading a quartet with Brodie Jarvie on double bass, Andrew Woodhead on piano and Jonathan Silk on drums. Alicia's composition ‘Home/Lands’ is an exploration of the concept of 'home' and the sense of belonging.

Steve Saunders is one of the most exciting young players on the Birmingham jazz scene. In June this year, he performed his brilliant composition Abstract Visions for a Foreign Land for an eleven-piece band on the Symphony Hall stage. This work showed Steve's excellence as a composer, merging influences from contemporary classical composers Tristan Murail and Gerard Grisey with his training in jazz.

Steve has worked on commissions from the UK and US, including the recent premiere of his solo piano piece, Assimilation (or a failure in the art thereof), written for Contemporary Arts Jazz Ensemble, as well as the premiere of his work TIMEBEING (for two improvisers) for Birmingham-based art gallery Centrala. He has performed throughout the UK as a sideman and a leader and has a wealth of experience as an educator. He participated in B:Music’s Jazzlines Summer School as a teenager, and now teaches at it as a guest tutor.

Steve’s chosen collaborator for the B:Music Jazzlines Commission is Asger Nissen, a Danish alto saxophonist based in Berlin, which is where he and Steve met. He is active on the European jazz scene, touring widely, especially in Germany and Denmark. He recently won the Jazz Institute of Berlin prize for outstanding soloist and has worked with artists such as Jim Black in his band ‘Jim Black and the Shrimps’, Jeff Ballard, Phil Donkin and Petter Eldh, amongst others.

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