BIOGRAPHY… look to REFERENCES (French)
AT START
Flautist, Véronique Piron has been initially trained in Strasbourg (East of France) in Claire GENTILHOMME's flute class at the Music Conservatorium, then in jazz and improvisation at the CEDIM (Center of Education and Development of the Musical Improvisation) with Jean Pierre HERZOG, while leading fine arts studies at University of Strasbourg.
She performed then in various groups in Alsace (East of France), jazz and latin-jazz, then in Brittany (West of France) in the jazz orchestra " Sirius " conducted by the pianist Didier SQUIBAN until 1995.
It is in the context of improvisation that she discovered the shakuhachi.
SHAKUHACHI AND JAPAN
Véronique PIRON studied shakuhachi in France with the school of famous master Katsuya YOKOYAMA (1934-2010), a major figure of the 20th century who internationalised the instrument and created the first works of contemporary music : KSK, Kokusai Shakuhachi Kenshûkan (International School of Shakuhachi).
First in France, she started in 1992, with his first disciple Yoshikazu IWAMOTO, resident of England, then laureate of a "Lavoisier" scholarship from the French Foreign Affairs Ministry between 2000 and 2002, she perfected her study directly with Katsuya YOKOYAMA, having Teruo FURUYA as main teacher and Michiko ÔNARI as accompanist with koto, shamisen and singing. She also got an initiation of the Jiuta singing style with the shamisen/koto player Kikuko SATÔ.
During her stay she got introduced to the bamboo tranverse flutes with Naoko MIYAMARU from the Gagaku Orchestra Reigakusha with the ryûteki, and met the eminent flautist Kohei NISHIKAWA from ProNipponia Ensemble who introduced her to the shinobue and nohkan and shared the recording of her CD Nipponflutes in 2009.
At the end of her scholarship, Katsuya YOKOYAMA gave her a professional SHIHAN licence (master).
ON STAGE… PERFORMING
- From traditional to contemporary music, Véronique Piron performs mainly as a soloist or in duets with Japanese and Western artists in France and Europe, including koto/shamisen and shakuhachi players since 1997 (Japan Year in France). She plays with Fumie HIHARA (koto, shamisen, voice) in a duet since 2012, and in a trio ”Yuya” with Etsuko CHIDA (koto, voice) classical and popular traditions of Northern Japan.
She is regularly invited to various shakuhachi events: European and International Shakuhachi Festivals (Tokyo 2002, Sydney 2008, London 2018).
Always looking for musicians of traditional and atypical backgrounds, Alan STIVELL invited her in 2015 in his project Amzer on poetry, then BARTABAS and his equestrian theatre ZINGARO invited her to his ultimate creation ”Ex Anima” with the thema of breath, during two and a half years, from August 2017 to the end of 2019.
- From improvisation to creation, she uses different playing technics and expression to enrich a new repertory with creative musicians and composers such as Rika SUZUKI. The meeting with pianist Lydia DOMANCICH in 2008 gave birth to a deep work about the confrontation of their two antagonistic instruments (CD Sillage 2015) and brought Véronique Piron a fantastic energy for the continuation of her own research and compositions (CD Flot Suspendu 2019).