FIRMAMENT

He wrote his first works at the age of seven and began studying composition in his hometown of London at 14. Two years later, George Benjamin found himself climbing the Parnassus to take lessons with no one less than Olivier Messiaen in Paris. »He was my favorite student. His judgement when it comes to the choice of colours, harmonies and rhythms is extraordinary, and he is an absolute master of form«, Messiaen praised his last and youngest student. One could imagine George Benjamin was educated in times of Renaissance humanism: He is a universally skilled thinker, pianist, conductor and one of the most distinguished composers of his generation. With bright, flowing lines he conjures up dream worlds in Dream of the Song, painted from the unlimited colour palette of a sound magician. Unmistakably part of his inspiration is Maurice Ravel, who himself unleashes ecstatic surges of opulent and delicious sound in his ballet music Daphnis and Chloé.