Peter Hill: Messiaen's La Colombe & a Sightreading Exercise

How can a piano be made to sound like a bird?

Here you will hear Peter Hill, former student of composer Olivier Messiaen, describe and demonstrate his expertise on his mentor's work in his performance of these haunting pieces.

The two pieces Hill performs, "The Dove" and one of Messiaen's all-but-lost sight reading exercises, provide a lofty height from which to spread your wings and take a first leap into this composers's (and this performer's) virtuosic portfolio.

This performance is brought to you by a partnership between the 2008 Chicago Humanities Festival: Thinking Big! and the 2008 Messiaen Music Festival presented by the University of Chicago.