Charles-Henri Avelange

He grew up in a 12th century Knights Templar castle in the greater Carcassonne area (France), with a dungeon full of giant bats that were the last species of their kind in Europe.

Met producer Harvey Bernhard at his Palm Desert mansion in March 2007. After listening to his music, he wrote a few days later a letter to Charles-Henri qualifying him as "a talent beyond belief".

Was personally interviewed (by phone) by Deepak Chopra to talk about his first album The Age of Heroes on Dr. Chopra's Syrius radio show in July 2006.

Charles-Henri Avelange is mostly known for his symphonic music scores. He started making music with his first electric keyboard when he was 9 years old. Even though he is now able to compose for a hundred-piece orchestra, he never had formal training in music composition and only trusts his ears. When the time came for university studies, he decided to focus on sound engineering so that he could master all the technical aspects of musical composition and recording. He graduated from the Superior Institute of Sound Technics (ISTS, Institut Supérieur des Techniques du Son) in France in 2004. When he was only 22, Charles-Henri was already being compared to composers like Hans Zimmer. Gilles Tinayre, the President of the French Film Composers' Association, called him the "French Hans Zimmer" and strongly recommended he go to the United States where he could find far better professional opportunities than in France.

He created and produced The SIFF Orchestra -- a 60 piece orchestra created for the Seattle International Film Festival Opening Night. It performed live music composed by Charles-Henri Avelange for the first time in the festival's history during the 38th SIFF Opening Night in front of a full house at McCaw Hall.