Cataloguing Birds

Rolf Hind worked with Olivier Messiaen as a student – the French composer hailed him as a “great pianist”- and as both composer and pianist he draws huge inspiration from the music and its aesthetic as well as the natural world, and its sense of immanence and transcendence which so inspired Messiaen himself.

This course – for pianists, composers and those that do both – will be a chance to look deeply at some of the Messiaen Catalogue pieces, pianistically, compositionally and aesthetically, as well as other pieces that take as their starting point Nature and its sounds and sights. There will be a chance to explore the birds local to Holt joined by writer, composer and bird expert Laurence Rose.

Pianists are invited to bring music that is inspired by Nature or birdsong with a special emphasis on Messiaen; composers are encouraged to find the elements in their work which could benefit most from such exploration. There will be workshops and group sessions/discussion on both playing and composing, as well as chances to perform and hear work publicly.

The week will be collaborative, exploratory and non-dogmatic. There will be time to sit in Beauty, and reflect it back.