Didier Squiban

Born in Ploudalmézeau, Finistère, France on September 23, 1959, Didier Squiban is an acclaimed pianist and composer. His repertoire covers a wide variety of genres including jazz, traditional Brittany music and classical and symphonic music. He began his musical journey at the age of 7 when he was encouraged by a priest at his church to pursue piano lessons. He began studying under composer Pierre-Yves Moign before briefly becoming discouraged and quitting piano when he was 12. He returned to playing piano six months later and also began to study the organ. He attended Brest Conservatory while teaching himself to play rock music that he was listening to on the radio. Interested in many genres, he played rock, jazz, and Celtic music before forming Sirius, a jazz fusion group, in 1977. Didier Squiban studied to become a teacher but left the profession in 1988 to pursue a career in music. His early albums – Tendances (1990), La Valse des Orvilliers (1992), and Jazz à Vauban (1994) – were recorded with a small jazz group. After joining Dan Ar Braz’s 50-piece band L'Héritage des Celtes, he met singer Yann-Fañch Kemener and accompanied him on his albums Enez Eusa (1994), Île-Exil (1996) and Kimiad (1998). Didier Squiban and Yann formed the group An Tour Tan, undertaking a tour and releasing the album Pen-ar-Bed (1996). He then recorded several solo piano albums including Molène (1997), Porz Gwenn (1999), Rozbras (2001), and Ballades (2003). He collaborated with the Orchestre National de Bretagne for the albums Symphonie Bretagne (2000) and Symphonie Iroise (2004). Didier Squiban combined jazz and traditional Breton music on a series of albums including L'Estran (2009), Adarre (2011), Cordes et Lames (2012), Sonatas en Trio (2016) and One For (2019). He also continued to issue solo piano albums - Tour of the Chapels (2005) and Molène Season II (2013) – as well as recording the live jazz / blues album Concert Mexico (2010). In 2022, Didier Squiban released his third orchestral work, Symphonie du Ponant.