Jeanne Loriod

Who was Jeanne Loriod?

Jeanne Loriod was a French musician, regarded as the world's leading exponent of the ondes Martenot.

Born in Houilles, Yvelines, she was the younger sister of Yvonne Loriod, the pianist and second wife of Olivier Messiaen. She performed all of Messiaen's works for ondes Martenot, most notably the Turangalîla-Symphonie, which she recorded six times. The work was not written for her, however, but Ginette Martenot, sister of the inventor Maurice.

Loriod's enormous repertoire included fourteen concertos, some three hundred works with concertante parts for ondes and another 250 chamber works. She also performed on numerous film soundtracks, and published a definitive work on the instrument, the three-volume treatise Technique de l’onde electronique type martenot.

She suffered a stroke and drowned while swimming near Antibes on the French Riviera in August, 2001.