Christopher Dingle is Reader in Music and Assistant Course Director (BMus) at Birmingham Conservatoire. In addition to The Life of Messiaen, he is co-author, with Chris Morley, of Music Criticism (Cambridge University Press, in preparation), author of Messiaen's Final Works (Ashgate, forthcoming), and co-editor of Olivier Messiaen: Music, Art and Literature (Ashgate, 2007). He was the organiser of the Messiaen 2008 International Centenary Conference at Birmingham Conservatoire and is in demand as a speaker. He is also on the review panel for BBC Music Magazine and contributes regularly to Temp...