Jean Guillou

Jean Guillou (1930–2019) was a French composer, organist, pianist, and pedagogue. Titular Organist at Saint Eustache in Paris, from 1963 to 2015, he was widely known as a composer of instrumental and vocal music focused on the organ, as an improviser, and as an adviser to organ builders. Guillou was born in Angers. Following his first studies in piano and organ, he became the organist at the church St. Serge in Angers at the age of 12. He studied at the Paris Conservatoire under Marcel Dupré, Maurice Duruflé and Olivier Messiaen. In 1955, he accepted a position as professor of organ and composition at the Institute of Sacred Music in Lisbon. During this time, he wrote his first compositions. Due to health reasons, Guillou underwent long term medical treatment in Berlin and relocated to this city in 1958. During the following five years, he composed numerous works and made his first recordings at Lutherkirche and St. Matthias church. In 1963, he returned to Paris, having been appointed Titular Organist at Saint-Eustache in succession to André Marchal. Guillou completed 52 years as organist at Saint-Eustache in March 2015, when he was succeeded by two co-titulaires. He had a worldwide reputation as a concert organist and improviser. In 1966, Guillou gave his debut concert at the Berliner Philharmonie, where he played Max Reger's Phantasia and Fugue on BACH op. 46 at the occasion of the Fiftieth Anniversary of Reger's death. He has issued more than 100 recordings (Philips, Dorian, Festivo, Decca, Augure among others) including the complete organ works of Johann Sebastian Bach, César Franck, Robert Schumann, numerous improvisations. He composed over 90 works – for organ, chamber and orchestral music – as well as numerous transcriptions for organ. From 1970 to 2005, Guillou taught organ performance and improvisation at the annual Internationale Meisterkurse Zürich. Beginning in 2007, these masterclasses were held at Saint-Eustache in Paris, France, for several years. Among his pupils are Zsuzsa Elekes, Francesco Filidei, Bernhard Haas, Yanka Hekimova, Jean-Paul Imbert, Leonid Karev, Livia Mazzanti and Jean-Baptiste Monnot.