French pianist, conductor, composer and teacher Jean-Michel Damase was born in Bordeaux on 27 January 1928. His mother was the harpist Micheline Kahn, and Jean-Michel began his music early - studying with Marcel Samuel-Rousseau from the age of five, and setting poetry to music at nine. At the Paris Conservatoire from 1940, he studied piano with Alfred Cortot, winning first prize for piano in 1943, then composition with Henri Büsser, Marcel Dupré and Claude Delvincourt, winning the Grand Prix de Rome in 1947.
Jean-Michel Damase died on 21 April 2013, aged eighty-five.
CD Spotlight. Seldom Recorded - Music for horn and piano, recommended by Geoff Pearce. '... two superb musicians enjoying themselves in music which is not well-known ...'
CD Spotlight. Sovereign Horn Territory - Music for horn and orchestra, recommended by Howard Smith. '... stunning breath control and consummate understanding ...'