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The French organist, conductor, music pedagogue and musicologist, George Guillard, was for a long time the holder of the Grandes Orgues de Notre-Dame-des-Blancs-Manteaux and the Église Saint-Louis-en-l'Île in Paris. Founder and former head of the Department of early music at the Conservatoire à rayonnement régional de Paris, he is also a doctor of musicology: his thesis, defended in 1993 under the supervision of Danièle Pistone, is entitled L'orgue à Paris de 1964 à 1986.
George Guillard is a regular guest at Radio France and the main festivals of the capital (Festival Estival, Festival d'Art Sacré), and has also given numerous concerts in the provinces and in Europe. He has also been executive producer at Radio France (France Musique) for organ cycles. In 2002, he launched a complete set of J.S. Bach's Cantatas in the Notre-Dame-des-Blancs-Manteaux church, which was a great public success, is to last for more than twenty years and is now continuing to be performed in L'Oratoire du Louvre (1st arrondissement of Paris).
A long practice of the splendid Kern organ of the Blancs-Manteaux, extensive contacts with organ builders (in particular, Jürgen Ahrend, for an aborted project relative to St-Louis-en-l'Ile) and specialised interpreters led him to take a particular interest in the European Baroque and classical repertoires.
His research has taken the form of musical publications (works by Gottfried August Homilius, facsimile of J.S. Bach's The Art of Fugue), musicological (numerous articles), musicographic (J.S. Bach and the Organ, series. Que sais-je?) or educational (Manuel pratique d’Analyse).
His discography includes several world premieres: in particular the organ work of Gottfried August Homilius, the first so-called "Weimar version" of J.S. Bach's Leipzig choirs, as well as the entire vocal and instrumental work of Jehan Alain on three CD's. These records have twice been awarded a Golden Orpheus from the Académie du disque lyrique (in 1992 and 1996).
His interest in contemporary repertoire has also led him to premiere important authors in France: Giacinto Scelsi, Pierre-Yves Level, Olivier Alain, Philippe Schœller, Michèle Reverdy, Jacques Castérède and Bernard Foccroulle. |
