Mechanical composer Pierre Bastien was born in Paris in 1953; while at the University of Sorbonne he studied French and 18th century literature but always harbored a fascination for experimental music, in particular the work of John Cage, and upon graduating wrote for ballet and string quartet. While composing for choreographer Dominique Bagouet's ballet #Tartine, in 1986 Bastien assembled his first music-generating machine from a turntable engine, a cymbal and a Meccano erector set; subsequent projects expanded upon the concept, culminating in the completion of his #Meccano Orchestra, a piece in which nine traditional instruments -- among them a Moroccan rebab, a Yugoslavian mandolin, a Senegalese kora and a Javanese angklung -- are played by robotic contraptions rigged from motors and toys, complete with Bastien improvising on trumpet or violin. ~ Jason Ankeny, Rovi