In partnership with Orchestre de Chambre de Paris, Théâtre du Châtelet is running a new series of concerts this season comprising a morning session reserved for schoolchildren and a lunchtime session for all ages. The format for both sessions is the same: a contemporary work or a ten-minute devised piece, followed by a discussion with the composer or a musician. Then, building on the insights gleaned from the discussion, the work is performed a second time and interacts with a major work of classical music.
Born in 1960, British composer George Benjamin has established himself as one of the leading figures of his generation. Also known as an author of critically acclaimed operas (Written on Skin) some of which have already become classics (Into the Little Hill), he defines his work, with the precision that characterizes him, as the necessary union of fantasy and exactitude: “To invent, inside my head, sounds and temporal worlds that will depend on how dozens or even hundreds of people render them.” Premiered in 2008, this flamboyant duet for piano and orchestra has found a choice performer in Lorenzo Soulès. Trained, amongst others, by Pierre-Laurent Aimard, the young pianist, who made a name for himself by winning all the prizes at the prestigious Geneva Competition at the tender age of twenty, George Benjamin has since been invited to perform on leading international stages.