It was formed around the core membership of pianist, composer and musical director Douglas Young, virtuoso flutist Kathryn Lukas, pianist Peter Hill (who recorded Messiaen's complete works for piano on Unicorn-Kanchana in 1986[2]), as well as Arditti Quartet member and AMM occasional collaborator Rohan de Saram.

[7] Their 1980 UK tour, organised by the Arts Council and Contemporary Music Network,[8] met with great audience success and critical appraise,[9] with a program comprising Maurice Ravel, Olivier Messiaen, Colin McPhee, George Crumb, Douglas Young, Xenakis and Toshiro Mayuzumi, prefaced by Rohan de Saram's demonstration of traditional Kandyan drums from his native Sri Lanka.

Douglas Young mentions two influences to explain his fascination for the Orient: Benjamin Britten's compositions The Prince of the Pagodas (1957) and Curlew River (1964), the latter inspired by the Sumidagawa Noh play; and meeting with Sri Lankan cellist de Saram.

[3] Dreamtiger explored composers inspired by the Orient like Debussy, Britten, Foulds, Hovhaness, Mayer, McPhee, Messiaen, Scelsi, as well as Eastern composers like Nguyen Thien Dao, Halim El-Dabh, Chou Wen-chung, Younghi Pagh-Paan, Yūji Takahashi, Toru Takemitsu, Isang Yun, Toshiro Mayuzumi or Kazuo Fukushima.

[11] Dreamtiger's unique LP, East-West Encounters, published 1982, is based on their 1980 repertoire and is a collection of Eastern-influenced works by 20th-century composers, including Colin McPhee's Balinese Ceremonial Music (1934), Olivier Messiaen's Cantéyodjayâ (1948), George Crumb's Vox Balaenae (1971) and Douglas Young's Trajet/Inter/Lignes (1981).