Roger Désormière

Roger Désormière (13 September 1898 25 October 1963) was a French conductor. Désormière was born in Vichy in 1898. He studied at the Paris Conservatoire, where his professors included Philippe Gaubert (flute), Xavier Leroux and Charles Koechlin (composition), and Vincent d'Indy (conducting). In 1922 he won the Prix Blumenthal and in 1923 became part of the Ecole d Arcueil. Désormière s early conducting experience was largely with the Ballets suédois and Sergei Diaghilev's Ballets Russes. He was conductor of the Ballets suédois's premiere of Relâche (1924), a film and music presentation by Francis Picabia and Erik Satie, with the film segment, Entr'acte, directed by René Clair.