Jean-Cristophe Maillard presenting at IBC 2014, Senate House, London
Before I met Jean-Cristophe Maillard, I had heard a lot about him. It seemed that for a while we led parallel lives albeit few decades apart: he went to the same high school as me (Lycée Francois Premier) where his father used to teach music; he studied music and musicology at the Sorbonne, like I did; and his master's dissertation was supervised by Pr. Edith Weber who also happens to be my uncle's godmother. I am lucky enough to have a manuscript of it at home.
I had heard his name many times and was eager to meet one of the world's only experts in the musette baroque. When I finally did meet him in Antwerpen in 2010, he was more than I expected: not only a wonderful musician but a warm and generous person always up for a laugh. He told me how he used to get told off at home for his antics at the Sorbonne after Pr. Weber would phone his parents up to tell them what he'd been up to.
Over the next 5 years, we met a few times at music and ethnomusicology events. In 2014 I was extremely honoured to have him as a presenter at the second International Bagpipe Conference where he talked to us with incredible enthusiasm about the 'Sublimation and personification of the bagpipe in French baroque opera : aspects of the musette in the lyric repertoire between Lully and Rameau'.
His kindness went further and a year ago he wrote a wonderful piece about the conference in the French music journal Pastel, spreading the word in France. I am very grateful to him for this very positive article and it was very important to me to know that I had his full support in this international bagpipe venture.
Jean-Cristophe Maillard was a wonderful man, a talented musician and a great expert. He died due to complications after surgery in the night of the 12 July. He will be sorely missed by the bagpipe community. Our thoughts go to his friends and family.
The funeral will be held on 17 July at 9:45am at the Eglise sainte Thérèse (12 rue Belle Paule, 31500 Toulouse).
I had heard his name many times and was eager to meet one of the world's only experts in the musette baroque. When I finally did meet him in Antwerpen in 2010, he was more than I expected: not only a wonderful musician but a warm and generous person always up for a laugh. He told me how he used to get told off at home for his antics at the Sorbonne after Pr. Weber would phone his parents up to tell them what he'd been up to.
Over the next 5 years, we met a few times at music and ethnomusicology events. In 2014 I was extremely honoured to have him as a presenter at the second International Bagpipe Conference where he talked to us with incredible enthusiasm about the 'Sublimation and personification of the bagpipe in French baroque opera : aspects of the musette in the lyric repertoire between Lully and Rameau'.
His kindness went further and a year ago he wrote a wonderful piece about the conference in the French music journal Pastel, spreading the word in France. I am very grateful to him for this very positive article and it was very important to me to know that I had his full support in this international bagpipe venture.
Jean-Cristophe Maillard was a wonderful man, a talented musician and a great expert. He died due to complications after surgery in the night of the 12 July. He will be sorely missed by the bagpipe community. Our thoughts go to his friends and family.
The funeral will be held on 17 July at 9:45am at the Eglise sainte Thérèse (12 rue Belle Paule, 31500 Toulouse).