“He cannot do that – it’s a criminal act! This is destroying classical music!”: Orchestral players were horrified by Keith Emerson’s work. But times have changed, says acclaimed conductor

Terje Mikkelsen and Keith Emerson.

Terje Mikkelsen first met Keith Emerson in China in 2006, when the acclaimed Norwegian conductor invited the ELP icon to play with the Beijing Symphony Orchestra. They went on to record the Three Fates Project together in 2012. Mikkelsen tells Prog what the late keyboard maestro means to him.

“The first day I met Keith we had a really nice talk, and I was sort of stunned how much he knew about classical music – how much he had listened to and his appreciation of it.