Louis Thiry

Louis Henry Nicolas Thiry was a French organist, improviser, and composer. He earned a first prize in organ in Jeanne Demessieux's class at the Conservatoire de Nancy in 1952 and subsequently studied under André Marchal and Rolande Falcinelli. He began his career as an organist at the church in Baccarat in 1958. He later served as titular organist for the historic Lefebvre organs at the chapelle de l'hôpital Charles-Nicolle in Rouen and taught at the Conservatoire de Rouen from 1971 to 2000. He was highly regarded for his interpretations of Olivier Messiaen’s works, including La Nativité du Seigneur and Le Banquet Céleste, which won the Grand Prix du Disque from the Académie Charles-Cros in 1973. He also recorded Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck's Fantaisies et Variations (1972), as well as Jean-Sébastien Bach’s L'Art de la fugue and Le Clavier bien tempéré. He died on June 27, 2019.