Damase was born in
Bordeaux, the son of harpist
Micheline Kahn. He was studying piano and solfège with
Marcel Samuel-Rousseau at the age of five and composing by age nine. His first work (at the age of nine) was a setting of some poems by
Colette, whom he had met at a Parisian salon. In the same year, he won the
Grand Prix de Rome for his cantata
Et la belle se réveilla. ==Selected compositions==