Yvonne Loriod French pianist and teacher Date of Birth: 20.01.1924 Country: France

Biography of Ivonne Loriot

Ivonne Loriot was a French pianist and pedagogue. She was born in France, in the family of Simone and Gaston Loriot. She grew up with her sisters, Jacqueline and Jeanne Loriot. Loriot started learning to play the piano at the age of six under the guidance of her godmother, Eminge-Sivad. By the age of fourteen, she had already mastered all of Mozart's concertos, Beethoven's sonatas, and Bach's 'Well-Tempered Clavier'. Her repertoire also included popular romantic compositions of that time.

In the Paris Conservatory, Loriot expanded her knowledge by studying fugues, orchestration, and the art of composing her own melodies. Her teachers included renowned maestros of the time such as Isidor Philipp, Lazare Levy, Marcel Ciampi, Simon Kossoff, Joseph Calvet, Messiaen, and Miloud. During her education, Loriot won several major music competitions, a total of seven times.

Although Loriot wrote several significant works, including the brilliant 'Grains de centre' for Martenot waves, piano, and vocals, she was best known to the general public for her composition 'Trois Mélodies africaines' for flute, Martenot waves, piano, and drums. This piece was performed by Jeanette Martenot, flutist Jean Merri, and percussionist Jacques Buss on March 24, 1945, at the 'Société Nationale'.

Loriot was one of Messiaen's students and part of the first group of students he assembled at the Paris Conservatory after his repatriation on March 7, 1941. According to Loriot herself, the first surprise came when the long-awaited teacher arrived at the class carrying a case with an instrument and extremely swollen fingers resulting from his prolonged stay in a prisoner-of-war camp. The teacher immediately went to the piano and played Debussy's 'Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune' from memory. The entire class was enchanted and mesmerized by the talent of their teacher, and all the students fell in love with him instantly.

One of the most notable episodes in Loriot's career was her experience of performing with Pierre Boulez and the 'Lamoureux' orchestra, Bruno Maderna, and Louis Martin. In just one week, Loriot managed to perform twenty-two Mozart concertos. In 1961, Ivonne and Pierre released 'Boulez's Structures, Book 2'.

Loriot later had the opportunity to teach at the Paris Conservatory (from 1967 to 1989, becoming the youngest professor in the entire conservatory) and in Darmstadt. In America, the pianist made her debut with Messiaen's 'Turangalîla-Symphonie' under the baton of Leonard Bernstein and the Boston Symphony Orchestra in 1949.

Loriot's phenomenal memory allowed her to easily learn Bartók's Second Piano Concerto in just eight days for a performance at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in Paris. On November 15, 1945, she made her first major stage appearance accompanied by the 'Orchestre National' conducted by Manuel Rosenthal.

Messiaen was the first to witness the incredible talent of Loriot. He quickly realized that her extraordinary memory and unconventional technical abilities promised her a great future. The great musician and pedagogue described his student as a unique, majestic, and exceptionally talented pianist whose artistry depended not only on how the melodies she performed were written, but also on how she saw and understood the world herself. Their working relationship gradually grew into something more, and on July 1, 1961, Messiaen and Ivonne Loriot got married. Loriot continued to perform successfully well into the 1990s, and she also worked extensively with her husband's compositions.

Loriot passed away peacefully on March 17, 2010, in the presence of her sister Jacqueline and a Catholic priest.