Programme Index

Discover 11,125,236 listings and 293,686 playable programmes from the BBC

imagine...

George Benjamin

Duration: 50 minutes

First broadcast: on BBC WORLD NEWS EuropeLatest broadcast: on BBC WORLD NEWS North America

He has been crowned with every laurel in contemporary classical music, composed operas which play on the world's most illustrious stages and been knighted for his services to music. Yet Sir George Benjamin is still relatively little known outside the classical world. Imagine... sets that straight. Intimate and humorous, this film tracks the creation of the British composer's latest opera Lessons in Love and Violence, which premiered at the Royal Opera House in London. The film follows his journey from composing songs aged three and being transfixed by Fantasia and 2001: Space Odyssey to his golden days as the youngest ever pupil of the legendary composer Olivier Messiaen in Paris. Early experiments with computers, a passion for folk instruments and virtuosity on the piano combined to produce the startling, moving music heard today. Show less

Contributors

Presenter:
Alan Yentob
Participant:
George Benjamin
Executive Producer:
Tanya Hudson
Series Editor:
Alan Yentob
Producer:
Jill Nicholls
Director:
Jill Nicholls

Genres

About this data

This data is drawn from the data stream that informs BBC's iPlayer and Sounds. The information shows what was scheduled to be broadcast, meaning it was/is subject to change and may not be accurate. More