Olivier Périn, born in Orléans, took up organ music with François-Henri Houbart in his hometown music Conservatoire where he was awarded a First Prize with merit and a Regional First Prize, both unanimously approved, and a First Prize in musical theory. After studying for further proficiency with Louis Robilliard at the Conservatoire National de Région de Lyon, he graduated with a Superior First Prize. He went on studying in master classes under Michel Chapuis, André Isoir, Jean Boyer, Jan-Willem Jansen, and Jean-Charles Ablitzer and also with Thierry Escaich and Pierre Pincemaille at the Conservatoire de Saint-Maur-des-Fossés where he was awarded a First Prize for improvisation.
At 22 years of age, he was awarded the post of organist to the historic Cavaillé-Coll organ at Sainte-Croix Cathedral in Orléans. From 1997 to 2020, he held in Paris the Saint-Paul-Saint-Louis-du-Marais church organ, where he ably concurred to a high quality liturgic music and subtly perpetuated French improvising tradition (in competing for the ‘‘Concours international d’orgue de la Ville de Biarritz’’, he winned the Special ‘‘Prix du public’’ in 2001 and in 2003 the ‘‘Grand Prix André Marchal’’).
In 2020, Olivier Périn was nominated deputy titular at the famous Cavaillé-Coll organ at La Madeleine in Paris.
In addition to this role, Olivier Périn carries out a busy career as concert performer, being invited to play in many cities and festivals in France and abroad, especially in Belgium, Spain, Italy, Germany, Sweden, the United States, etc. He is regularly invited to foreign countries (Philadelphia, Brême, …) particularly for teaching French baroque music. He recorded several discs for the XCP label in his own region (‘‘Trois siècles d’orgue en Sologne’’). In Stockholm he recorded a disc entitled “From Johann-Sebastian
Bach to Post-Romanticism” rewarded with 5 Diapasons and an excellent review. He also recorded the complete Christmas by Daquin on the Stapelmoor French organ in
Germany and, more recently, the Six organ Sonatas by Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach.
In June 2010, Olivier Périn got the Aptitude Certificate for Director functions from Ministère de la Culture : having first managed Toulon – Provence – Méditerranée Conservatoire and then Montpellier’s and Nancy’s, he is at present Director of the Superior Academy of Music and Dance Hauts-de-France – Lille.
He is the artistic director of the discographic label Yska, which he founded in 2006, and manages the Dimanches Musicaux of La Madeleine Church in Paris, inviting the best choirs and organists worldwide.
