In commemoration of the 150th birthday anniversary of the French impressionist composer Paul Dukas, the 17-year-old organist Sebastian Heindl presents his new transcription of the ballet La Péri for the organ, and shows the individual ways in which three of Dukas’s students developed further their teacher’s understanding of music. All of them were organists: Jehan Alain, whose 75th death anniversary is commemorated in 2015, Olivier Messiaen and Maurice Duruflé. The performer comes to the surprising conclusion that, contrary to what is generally assumed, there was no abrupt change of style at the transition from romanticism to modernism, but instead a steady artistic metamorphosis which can be found in the teacher-student lineages. This exemplifies Paul Dukas’s relevance as a great teacher who had a significant impact on twentieth-century music – literally in the sense of the famous imperative attributed to Richard Wagner: Children, create something new!

The young organist Sebastian Heindl received his musical training as a member of the Thomanerchor Leipzig. He has won several competitions for young organists, including the nationwide ‘Jugend musiziert’ competitions in 2012 and 2015.