Project leader and composer Kirsty Devaney talks about what music has influenced her:

Messiaen – ‘Quartet for the End of Time’ – Introduced me to new music and a whole new way of thinking about rhythm, pulse and harmony. An amazing story behind the piece of how he wrote it in a prisoner of war camp. My favourite movement is no. V:

Mozart – Requiem – Lacrimosa. MOZART?!? I know..I was as surprised as you! I never really enjoyed listening to music from the classical era. However when my school choir decided to sing this at a mass performance in the Albert Hall I fell in love. It was not what I thought Mozart should sound like at all and even more amazing was when I found out he died before completing it and his student ended up finishing it. I will never forgot hearing the opening lines by the orchestra and standing right at the top of the Albert Hall  singing this beautifully haunting piece of music. I knew that night that I wanted to do music as a career.

Kaija Saariaho – ‘Sept Papillons’ (Seven Butterflies). Saariaho is currently one of my favourite composers at the moment. When I heard this I couldn’t believe that it was all done on just one cello!