Jean-François Paillard

Who was Jean-François Paillard?

Jean-François Paillard was a French conductor.

He was born in Vitry-le-François and received his musical training at the Conservatoire de Paris, where he won first prize in music history, and the Salzburg Mozarteum.

He also earned a degree in mathematics at the Sorbonne.

In 1953, he founded the Jean-Marie Leclair Instrumental Ensemble, which later became the Jean-François Paillard Chamber Orchestra in 1959. The ensemble has made recordings of much of the Baroque repertoire for Erato Records and has toured throughout Europe and the United States. It has also recorded with many leading French instrumentalists, including Maurice André, Jean-Pierre Rampal, Pierre Pierlot, Lily Laskine.

He has realized 307 records.

Paillard also appeared frequently as a guest conductor with other orchestras and was active as an author. He edited the series Archives de la Musique Instrumentale and published La musique française classique in 1960.

He died in April 2013, aged 85.