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.
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark journalist said: "If Kraftwerk were the Elvis Presley of synth-pop, then Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark were its Beatles." In 2008, American publication "The A.V. Club" noted that McCluskey and Humphreys were "often labeled as the 'Lennon-McCartney of synth-pop'." In a 2008 piece on OMD, "The Quietus" magazine editor John Doran called them "the only Liverpool band to come near to living up to the monolithic standards of productivity and creativity set in place by the Beatles", and asserted: "Orchestral Manouevres in the Dark are not one of the best synth bands ever: they are one of the best bands