“I started my musical studies in France at the age of five, mostly solfège (sight-singing) at first, because a piano student at the conservatory wasn’t allowed to touch the keyboard before having done two years of theoretical training. Unfortunately, this completely destroyed my initial enthusiasm for this instrument. I then switched to trombone.
“After my high school diploma in performance, I decided to concentrate on conducting, and spent about ten hours a day on theory, voice, various instruments, and musicology. And, as conducting studies in France rarely give the opportunity to the students to conduct an orchestra, I created my own chamber ensemble. After I completed my BA in Musicology in France (University of Nice-Sophia Antipolis), I started to look for a master’s program somewhere in the US.
“I loved the USA, having been raised with a sense of gratitude toward this country because my grandfather was a general in the French army and fought with the American army during the Second World War