John Alexander writes: "Reaching beyond, taking a risk, labouring at something, out of time and after light; initially feeling hesitant or tired, but doing it anyway; enjoying the moment, establishing a rapport, working together; coping with repetition, of movement, varying it slightly; feeling pleased with the effort and the finished effect; night shift over, job well done!"

night shift was premiered by Simone Kreutzpointer, Julian Wacker and Lea Rembeck on 31 January 2014 at Bosendorfer Hall, Eggenfelden, Germany. The same trio performed it on 1 February 2014 at the Munich Academy, Munich and at the Double Bass Ensembles Competition on 8 February 2014. It was commissioned for this trio of young bassists by their teacher, Claus Freudenstein and is dedicated to Simone, Julian and Lea.

night shift received it's UK premiere at Wells & Mendip Museum (Wells, Somerset) on Sunday 22 March 2015 performed by Ben Groenevelt, Thea Sayer and Eloise Riddell.

John Alexander was born in West Sussex in 1942 and began to compose at the age of 20. At the time he discovered a fascination for art, literature, dance, architecture and sculpture and these topics, along with mathematics, have continued to have a bearing on his work. He studied composition with Edmund Rubbra at the Guildhall School of Music in London, and later with Jonathan Harvey and Peter Wiegold at the University of Sussex.

John Alexander has never been a prolific composer, but an impressive and growing body of work reflects a rare eye for detail and structure - each work beautifully crafted and reworked until every inflection, detail and nuance is perfect. Probably best described as a miniaturist, he writes in a fluent, independent and strongly personal style with an intense desire to create music which communicates to both performer and audience alike.

In 1999 John Alexander won the 1st BIBF Composition Contest and was invited to be a judge for several BIBF competitions. He was a featured composer at Bass-Fest 2001, was an spnm short-listed composer for three years, and was Composer-in-residence at the 2004 Rotterdam Conservatoire Double Bass Weekend, Bass-Fest 2006 and 2007 Wells Double Bass Weekend. His works have been performed and broadcast throughout the world and he was written an impressive and unique body of work for double bass.