Roger Boutry (1932–2019)

The death has been announced of French pianist, conductor and composer Roger Boutry. He was 87.

Boutry studied at the Conservatoire de Paris where his many awards – he took first prizes in solfege, piano, harmony, chamber music, accompaniment, fugue, conducting and composition – are an early indication of his great musical versatility. In 1954 he won the Grand Prix de Rome and was a finalist in the International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow in1958.

A brilliant career as a performer, conductor and composer followed. He conducted the Orchestres de la Garde Républicaine for over twenty years, making appearances with other orchestras worldwide. He played as a soloist under André Cluytens, Pierre Dervaux, Ingelbrecht, Jean Martinon, Pierre Monteux and others. His hundreds of compositions include Rosaire de Joies, which won the Grand Prix Musical of the Ville de Paris (1963); Concerto for Orchestra, winner of the Prix Georges Bizet of the Institut de France; Sacem (1970), which took the Grand Prix de la Promotion Symphonique; and Rosaire de Joies Concerto-Fantaisie, Reflets sur Rome, which won the Prix de la Fondation Pineau-Chaillou (1971).

Roger Boutry – Divertimento for Saxophone and Piano (1963)

Originally posted at Composition:Today ©Red Balloon Technology