Pierre-Yves Asselin

Pierre-Yves Asselin (born October 6, 1950 in Montreal ) is a Canadian organist and music teacher.

biography

ierre-Yves Asselin received his first musical training from his father, who was a cellist and choirmaster. At the age of eight he became a member of the Petits Chanteurs du Mont-Royal . From 1963 to 1965 he had piano lessons with Hilda Metcalfe , after which he studied music theory, organ and improvisation with Raymond Daveluy until 1972 . His interest in organ building led to the collaboration with the organ builders Karl Wilhelm and Hellmuth Wolff . From 1972 to 1975 he studied at McGill University with John Grew and earned a bachelor's degree.

From 1965 to 1975 Asselin was organist at the Oratoire Saint-Joseph , from 1968 to 1975 also responsible for the maintenance of the organs. He also worked as an organist at the Church of Saint-Pascal-Baylon (1968 to 1969) and the Westmount Park United Church (1973 to 1974). From 1974 to 1975 he taught counterpoint at the Université du Québec . In 1975 he went to Paris on a Canada Council scholarship . There he was an organ student of Marie-Claire Alain and studied organ and harpsichord making at the Laboratoire d'acoustique at the University of Paris , where he received his doctorate in 1983.

He worked as organist at the churches of St-Germain-des-Prés and St-Germain-en-Laye and taught at the Paris Conservatory from 1978 to 1991 and at the Lyon Conservatory from 1983 to 1991. In 1978 he recorded the mass propre pour les couvents by François Couperin , in 1985 he published a recording with his own transcription of Mussorgski's Pictures at an Exhibition and the toccata from Widor's Fifth Organ Symphony.

Asselin made a name for himself as an expert in tuning and tempering organs and harpsichords and published the book Musique et tempérament in Paris in 1985 . During a sabbatical in 1991 he worked on Syncordia , a computerized ear training program, and on Orgue 2000 , a project to integrate an electronic system into a traditional organ. In 1992 he founded Syncordia International Inc , a company developing traditional pipe organ construction.

Web links

• The Canadian Encyclopedia - Pierre-Yves Asselin