Born in 1990, Alex is a composer and improvising-trombonist. His music is stylistically pluralist and draws upon his life as a jazz musician, improviser and workshop leader, fusing an enormous range of contemporary, aural and pop music traditions.

Alex was elected to the 9th International Composition Seminar and commission to write ILOLLIPOP which he performed with Ensemble Modern and conductor Enno Poppe in 2020. That same year, he was appointed a London Symphony Orchestra Panufnik composer, and awarded the Dankworth Jazz Composition Prize by Worshipful Company of Musicians. He was also a Leverhume Art Scholar with the London Philharmonic Orchestra 2016-17, writing NOW WE ARE DUH-DUR. His piece SPAKE represented the UK in the Orchestral section at the International Society of Contemporary Music 'World Music Days' Festival 2017 and he was awarded the Harriet Cohen Music Award for his compositions in 2018. In 2019, Alex recorded his concerto OD ODY PINk’d for jazz trombonist and orchestra. He has also featured on the ListenPony label and has two more albums being published in 2020, including his piece MUSIC for BOSCH PEOPLE.

Alex has written for several festivals, ensembles, orchestras and big bands including: Ensemble Modern, DreamMusics Ensemble, Klammer Klang, London Symphony Orchestra, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Ensemble x.y, Nevis Ensemble, Hyper Duo, x.y Song, Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, National Youth Jazz Orchestra UK, ListenPony, Aldeburgh Festival, Psappha, OSO, Helios Collective, Chaos Collective BigBand, MirrorsofHall BigBand, Dr. K Sextet, 5KBrass, Royal Academy of Music Philharmonic and Royal College of Music Philharmonic. Soloists he has written for include Tabea Debus, Patrick Terry, Jacob Collier and David Zucchi. He has written six operas hosted by ENO, Helios collective, Tête à Tête, Secondmovement and PelicanMusic. Alex has also been commissioned by John Zorn to contribute to Arcana X 2021.

His writing for community settings include his post Dahl-music massed forces children’s opera NOGGIN and the WHALE. He is Composer-in-Residence at Pelican Music Service and a composition tutor on the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain.

Alex is also the founder of Dreammusics Ensemble, a group which uniquely combines synth sounds with leading virtuosic jazz and notated-musician soloists. Performances include venues such as Café Oto and Kammer Klang.

Website: www.alexpaxtonmusic.com
Facebook: @dreammmusics
Instagram: @dreammusics
Soundcloud: www.soundcloud.com/alex-paxton-2
Twitter: @alexpaxtonyeah

The commissions we are able to give to the composers on our 2020-21 Composers programme are made possible thanks to RPS Members and support from the Susan Bradshaw Composers' Fund, Delius Trust, the Elgar Bursary Fund, The Fidelio Charitable Trust, Garrick Charitable Trust, Presteigne Festival and The Harold Hyam Wingate Foundation.