Rediscovering an award-winning French composer and why he has been forgotten How did you discover Robert Dussaut? Iñaki Encina Oyón: When I was twenty years old, I moved to Toulouse to pursue my studies as an accompanist and I joined the “classe de perfectionnement” of Thérèse Dussaut. The first time I heard about Robert Dussaut was when I read my teacher’s impressive biography that mentioned she was the daughter of a winner of the Grand Prix de Rome. However, busy with stude

Iñaki Encina Oyón sheds light on a mysterious French poet Two of my favourite songs in our recording of French mélodies by Robert Dussaut are composed on poems of a certain Jean Maddus: L’Oracle and Adieux à l’étranger. Adriana González delivers these texts with exquisite taste, and during our preparation for the recording she confessed that she felt very connected to the poems as they are about two women. The first one asks an oracle about the true feelings of her lover, onl

Pianist Iñaki Encina Oyón about why Greek-born French composer Hélène Covatti deserves more attention Who was Hélène Covatti? Hélène Covatti was born in Greece (1910) and moved to Paris when she was 15 years old to pursue her musical studies in the Conservatoire Superieur de Paris, with teachers such as Noël Gallon or Jean Roger-Ducasse. Her mother was a talented painter and the whole family settled in Paris, where she married composer Robert Dussaut, and gave birth to Thérès