About author : PERROT Jean-Luc

Jean-Luc Perrot was born the 23 may 1959. He passed the Agrégation and has a Doctorate in Musicology. Currently, he is a Lecturer at the Teacher's Training Centre (IUFM) in Lyon. Since 1986, he has been assistant-lecturer at the Jean Monnet University in St-Etienne. He studied the piano with Roland Meiller (St. Etienne Conservatory) and the organ with Michel Chapuis and Jean Boyer in varions Académies. He got in touch with the organ world early when he was only 12 years old, both through the outstanding Clicquot organ at Souvigny and the Merklin organ at the Cathedral in Moulins (Allier). He has been the organist of the historic Callinet organ at Notre-Dame's in St-Etienne since 1979, and he was instrumental in implementing its restoration by Gaston Kern, advocating the idea of a strict restoration of the organ to its original specifications. According to him, musicology should not be severed from a personal and regular practice of music. Conversely, his playing and his choice of a certain repertoire are stimulated by his own research. Thus, his thesis on "the Organ in France from 1789 to 1860", which he submitted in Lyon University in l989, led him to unearth a great many musical scores which he often performs in concerts. He has given recitals all around France, as well as in Italy, Poland, Germany and Spain. He is also a much sought-after lecturer and has written several articles, historical notices, and analyses for CDs. As a composer, he has written mainly for his favourite instruments, viz. the harpsichord and the organ, and some of his compositions happened to be performed on the openings of organs (La Chaise-Dieu, Notre¬-Dame’s in St. Etienne). He has also composed ‘musical tales' for children. Considered as one of the specialists of the early 19th-century organ in France, he refuses however to be pigeonholed in one sole period and aesthetic interest. His tastes and concerns make him equally open to Renaissance music and to certain forms of contemporary expression. His competence embraces the harpsichord and the piano (he is one of the founding members, and current Chairman, of the International Society of the Friends of Georges Cziffra) and he is very fond of the opera. A great champion of beautiful instruments, he plays an active role in the protection or restoration of those that are endowed with a true character (La Chaise-Dieu). He and a group of friends are currently trying to draw the authorities' attention to the great artistic interest of the historic harpsichord in the Museum of Art and Industry in St. Etienne.