Marie-Claire Alain is one of the world¹s most respected organists, a leading teacher, and an expert on Baroque performing practices.

She came from a musical family. Her father was Albert Alain, the organist of the church of St Germain-en-Laye, who gave her her first lessons. Her brother Jehan (1913-1940), fifteen years older than she, was by then already recognized as a highly talented organist who filled in for his father at the church as needed, and was showing talent as a composer. Her other brother, Olivier (b. 1918), eight years older, also was beginning to show talent.

It was a blow to both of them when Jehan was killed in action near the start of World War II. The war delayed Olivier¹s and Marie-Claire¹s musical education. She started at the Paris Conservatoire in 1944, studying harmony with Durufflé, counterpoint with Pié-Caussade, and organ with Marcel Dupré.

She won four first prizes while at the Conservatoire. After she graduated, she continued to win prizes in organ competitions, notably the Geneva International Competition and the Johann Sebastian Bach Prize of the Amis de l¹Orgue in Paris.

She gave her first recital at St Merri, Paris. She is noted for her scholarship and devotion to stylistic authenticity. She has deeply studied details of ornamentation and interpretation, developing a reputation as a specialist in the music of Johann Sebastian Bach and earlier composers. She is known for selecting music she considers appropriate for the individual instruments where she gives recitals: for instance, she favors Schnittger or Marcussen organs for Johann Sebastian Bach, and organs of Cliquot and builders of instruments in similar style for François Couperin. The town of Lübeck awarded her its Buxtehude Prize for her services on behalf of Early German music.

However, she has also frequently played later music, such as that of Franz Liszt, Olivier Messiaen, and her brother Jehan, and recorded organ concertos of Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, Franz Joseph Haydn, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Francis Poulenc, Widor, and Vierne.

Besides touring around the world, she is in high demand as a teacher and lecturer. She has recorded for her entire career with the French-based Erato label, making well over 200 releases. These include the complete organ music of Johann Sebastian Bach, Dietrich Buxtehude, Bruhns, François Couperin, De Grigny, Johann Pachelbel, Felix Mendelssohn, and César Franck. She has earned more than fifteen Grands Prix du Disque. She is a Commander of the Légion d¹Honneur and a Commander of the Ordre National du Mérite. ~ Joseph Stevenson, Rovi