When asked which musicians had influenced him most, Olivier Messiaen’s answer was that birds, principally the blackbird, which is able to improvise for eleven or twelve verses, were his most important source of inspiration. In his 13-part cycle Catalogue d’oiseaux the composer dives deep into the world of birdsong. The pianist Pierre-Laurent Aimard and the actor Birgit Minichmayr place this work in a new context with a selection of texts about the world of birds.