Jean Guillou

Jean Victor Arthur Guillou (18 April 1930 – 26 January 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. For several decades he held regular master classes in Zurich and in Paris.

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 1952, while still studying, Guillou played the premiere of his organ transcription of The Musical Offering by Johann Sebastian Bach at Erskine and American United Church in Montreal, Canada. 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 (Fantaisie op. 1, Colloque no. 1, and parts of Colloque no. 2). 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. During this time, he met composer Max Baumann, who wrote his first organ compositions (Invocation op. 67 no. 5, Trois pièces brèves op. 67 no. 6, Psalmi op. 67 no. 2) for Guillou, who premiered these works in a concert on 20 January 1963 at St. Matthias church in Berlin. In 1963 he returned to Paris, having been appointed Titular Organist at Saint-Eustache in succession to André Marchal. Appointed Organiste Titulaire Emerite at St. Eustache in September 2014, Guillou completed 52 years as organist at Saint-Eustache in March 2015, when he was succeeded by two co-titulaires. On 22 April 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. On 6 October 1966 Guillou played the world premiere of his organ work Pour le Tombeau de Colbert at the Berliner Philharmonie.