Synopsis

During the mid-1970s, George Benjamin studied composition with Olivier Messiaen at the Paris Conservatoire. Tonight, at the Royal Albert Hall, he conducts the Ensemble Modern in a concert dedicated to his former teacher. The program opens with two of Benjamin's own compositions, *Palimpsest I* and *Palimpsest II*, followed by his orchestration of an organ piece by the Baroque composer Nicolas de Grigny. Messiaen’s monumental *Des canyons aux étoiles* concludes the evening. The concert is introdu