As Stephan Meier comes to the end of his first year as artistic director of Birmingham Contemporary Music Group (BCMG), the ensemble prepares to celebrate a much bigger anniversary. Thirty years after it emerged from within the CBSO in 1987, its latest leader marks his first commission with a special celebratory concert open to everyone, completely free of charge.

On Sunday 10 September, the work of three acclaimed composers will embark on a musical cruise along the city’s famous canal network, with visitors invited to watch and listen from its towpaths. Spread across three separate narrowboats, BCMG musicians will perform the new works as they glide between Brindleyplace, Arena Birmingham (formerly the Barclaycard Arena) and the National Sea Life Centre before uniting at the meeting point of the Birmingham Main Line, Fazeley and Worcester Canals.

“BCMG is all about the new,” says Meier, “and for me, the most delicate and challenging part of my task here is to identify what will be new to this group. But I didn’t want to just do something new for the sake of it; it had to be something interesting and fun, not only for our musicians but also for our audiences and Sound Investors, all of whom contribute to the history of musicmaking here.”

With an eye-catching set-up that’s unique to the Birmingham landscape (as locals will proudly tell you, Brum boasts more canals than Venice), his first commission here, titled Canal Serenade, certainly ticks those boxes. Joining the West Midlands’ own Richard Baker will be Cypriot Yannis Kyriakides and Czech Ondřej Adámek, jointly making their Birmingham debut.

“Neither of them had ever had a composition performed in Birmingham before, so it seemed like a good moment to introduce them to audiences here. Ondřej in particular I knew would have not only the craftsmanship for this project, but a certain visionary, ambitious intention with his music - he understood what it would mean to have people out on the canals singing in the open.”

Together, the trio have drawn on the distinctive geography and architecture of the UK’s second city to develop a truly collaborative music experience.

“The canals were something I noticed very soon after I first came to Birmingham. But although I had an idea for something around the canals, there’s no way I could have foreseen the form that it would take, especially since this is such an unusual way of working for the composers.

“When creating new pieces, composers like to do their homework and then go into their own space and spend time inside themselves working through ideas. In this case, I had to convince them all to come and meet here and get to know each other and see the place before they started, to help them with the sharing and exchanging of ideas later. So when they all came here in March, we had a walk together around the canals to identify the best areas for the boats to travel and meet.

“After our walk, we spent a couple of hours discussing it again, and what’s really nice is that they all liked the idea of dividing their musicians across the three boats. So it’s not like, on one boat, ‘These are my musicians playing my music and approaching from this side’. It’s all very joined together from the beginning. I couldn’t have predicted that, but I think it’s brilliant!”

This ‘spirit of sharing’ gets to the heart of what Meier is hoping to achieve with this innovative and ambitious public project, which will be free to attend both during its Sunday afternoon premiere and later repeat performance as part of the Birmingham Weekender festival (itself a massive celebration of shared heritage, culture and creativity). Kids are also invited to join the fun, with activities taking place from 1.30pm at the CBSO Centre ahead of the main event.

“Just as the composers will be sending their ideas swimming out on the water, so we want children to set their own ideas swimming. What they do will depend on them, but it’s all about having ideas that you can take out in the open - perhaps in the form of a parade, for example.”

The anniversary will then culminate in a big indoor concert back at the CBSO Centre - also free, although ticketed due to limited space, and donations towards the group’s work are encouraged.

“It will be very lively, very special and simply a unique opportunity to experience something that you might not have encountered before. We hope that when we share our work outside, people will enjoy it and afterwards perhaps say, ‘Okay, well I’ve never been to the CBSO Centre before, but it’s not far away - let’s have a look!’”

In addition to the Birmingham celebrations, BCMG will also be performing at the Barbican and Wilton’s Music Hall in London this month. Further ahead, as he prepares to lead the group into a new chapter of its story, Meier hopes to continue in the vein in which he’s started, combining BCMG’s existing strengths with a broader, international outlook and stronger presence on the world stage.

“This is simply a starting point, but I think it shows the way forwards in terms of widening the focus and the repertoire with work from around the world, while still connecting very closely with BCMG’s history and allowing the group to follow its own path.”

Canal Serenade premieres at 4pm on Sunday 10 September and is followed by a concert at the CBSO Centre at 6pm. It’s repeated at 2pm on Saturday 23 September as part of the Birmingham Weekender festival.

Interview by Heather Kincaid