Daniel Biro

Composer Daniel Biro studied jazz music, but quickly turned to more experimental forms of expression. Since the early '90s he has thrived on finding new applications for the minimalist techniques of Philip Glass. He released three CDs on the U.K. label Sargasso during the '90s.

Biro was born in Rome, Italy, of Hungarian parents. He grew up in the south of France, where he studied keyboards at the Jazz Conservatory of Monaco and Nice University. The latter city's famous poet, Jean Cocteau, had a strong influence on the composer's themes and imagery. Biro got involved in various experimental bands and started to write music for the theatre, an activity he pursued after moving to London in 1985. There he developed a strong artistic relationship with choreographer Jane Turner, for whom he wrote many pieces.

In 1992 he co-founded LUST, an organization promoting collaborative multi-art performance events, with Turner and poet K.M. Pennhaligon. His album output also started around that time, with his first CD released on Sargasso (the label's first production) in 1993; Soho Square presented two choreographed pieces. It is with 1996's The Comparative Anatomy of Angels that Biro successfully showed what he was made of; the album comprises beautiful works that were, for the most part, inspired by Cocteau's poetic world, allying modernity with tonality. It also introduced his love for the Fender Rhodes electric piano, something he was to develop more fully on 1999's Elegant Enigmas. ~ François Couture, Rovi