Odile Pierre

Odile Marie-Pascale Pierre (; 12 March 1932 – 29 February 2020) was a French organist, composer and academic teacher. She was the organist at La Madeleine, Paris, and taught organ and improvisation at the Conservatoire de Paris. The last student of Marcel Dupré, she played around 2,000 recitals internationally and made recordings. Biography Born on 12 March 1932 in Pont-Audemer, Pierre grew up in Loiret. At age seven, she attended a recital on the Cavaillé-Coll organ of the Church of St. Ouen, Rouen, by Marcel Dupré and then took an interest in the instrument. She was an organist and choir leader at the église de Barentin at age 15. She attended the , where she studied with Norbert Dufourcq, Maurice Duruflé, Noël Gallon and Marcel Lanquetuit, and the Conservatoire de Paris, where she with Dupré, awarded a first prize for organ and improvisation in 1955, with unanimous approval of the jury, to which Jeanne Demessieux belonged. At age 23, she was the youngest in his class to receive this distinction. She became Dupré’s last living student. Pierre took advanced organ classes with Fernando Germani in Siena, and at the Mozarteum in Salzburg with Franz Sauer. Pierre was assistant organis