Born: 21 September 1874  in Cheltenham, England.

Died: 25 May 1934 in London, England.

Gustav Holst is known for the excellence of his orchestration, his music combines an international flavour based on the styles of Maurice Ravel, Igor Stravinsky, and others with a continuation of English Romanticism. The BSO’s founder, Sir Dan Godfrey, was an advocate of British music and often featured Holst’s works, consequently Holst got to conduct and listen to the orchestra on a number of occasions and got to work closely with Godfrey on works such as his Cotswold Symphony.

If you want to get an insight into Holst’s Planets suite then please watch our Meet the Music video.