Marie-Claire Alain

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Marie-Claire Alain (born August 10, 1926) is an influential French organist and organ teacher best known for her prolific recording career. She is particularly known for her ability to perform substantial works entirely from memory.

1 Background and education
2 Musical career
3 Awards
4 External links

[edit] Background and education

Marie-Claire Alain was born in Saint-Germain-en-Laye, near Paris. Her father, Albert Alain (1880-1971) was an organist and composer, as were her brothers, Jehan and Olivier. Alain studied in the Paris Conservatory, in the organ classes of Marcel Dupré, where she was awarded four first prizes.[1]

[edit] Musical career

Alain has recorded the complete works of J.S. Bach three separate times, and has also recorded the complete works of over a dozen other major composers for the organ, as well as many individual important works. She is the most-recorded organist in the world,^{[citation needed]} with over 260 recordings in her catalogue.

Alain has had a long association with the St Albans International Organ Festival.

[edit] Awards

Sonning Award (1980; Denmark)

[edit] External links

Marie-Claire Alain at Allmusic
Interview with Marie-Claire Alain at The Organ magazine

v • d • e Léonie Sonning Music Prize Laureates

1959–1980	Igor Stravinsky (1959) · Leonard Bernstein (1965) · Birgit Nilsson (1966) · Witold Lutosławski (1967) · Benjamin Britten (1968) · Boris Christoff (1969) · Sergiu Celibidache (1970) · Arthur Rubinstein (1971) · Yehudi Menuhin (1972) · Dmitri Shostakovich (1973) · Andrés Segovia (1974) · Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau (1975) · Mogens Wöldike (1976) · Olivier Messiaen (1977) · Jean-Pierre Rampal (1978) · Janet Baker (1979) · Marie-Claire Alain (1980)

1981–2000	Mstislav Rostropovich (1981) · Isaac Stern (1982) · Rafael Kubelík (1983) · Miles Davis (1984) · Pierre Boulez (1985) · Sviatoslav Richter (1986) · Heinz Holliger (1987) · Peter Schreier (1988) · Gidon Kremer (1989) · György Ligeti (1990) · Eric Ericson (1991) · Georg Solti (1992) · Nikolaus Harnoncourt (1993) · Krystian Zimerman (1994) · Yuri Bashmet (1995) · Per Nørgård (1996) · András Schiff (1997) · Hildegard Behrens (1998) · Sofia Gubaidulina (1999) · Michala Petri (2000)

2001–present	Anne-Sophie Mutter (2001) · Alfred Brendel (2002) · György Kurtág (2003) · Keith Jarrett (2004) · John Eliot Gardiner (2005) · Yo-Yo Ma (2006) · Lars Ulrik Mortensen (2007) · Arvo Pärt (2008)