The Carnival of the Animals or studied music at the University of Bristol, including John Pickard (current Professor of Composition), Geoff Poole, Michael Ellison, Julian Leeks and Manos Charalabopoulos. Two of the movements were composed by the finalists of the NMSW Young Composers’ Prize 2014. The full list of movements is as follows: The Carnival of the Animals The Carnival of the Animals (Le carnaval des animaux) is a humorous musical suite of fourteen movements by the French Romantic composer Camille Saint-Saëns. The work was written for private performance by an "ad hoc" ensemble of two pianos and other instruments, and lasts around 25 minutes.
The Carnival of the Animals ballet, "The Dying Swan", was choreographed in 1905 by Mikhail Fokine to this movement and performed by Anna Pavlova. Pavlova gave some 4,000 performances of the dance and "swept the world." Full ensemble: the finale opens on the same tremolo notes in the pianos as in the introduction, which are soon reinforced by the wind instruments, the glass harmonica and the xylophone. The strings build the tension with a few low notes, leading to glissandi by the piano, then a pause before the lively main melody is introduced. The Finale is somewhat reminiscent of an American carnival of the 19th