Yvonne Loriod (born 20 January 1924, Houilles, Paris, France) is a French pianist, and the widow of composer Olivier Messiaen. Her sister was the ondes martenot player Jeanne Loriod. Loriod studied at the Paris Conservatoire and became one of Olivier Messiaen's most avid pupils. At the age of 25, she was appointed professor at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris. She went on to become a nationally-acclaimed recording artist and concert pianist, and premiered most of Messiaen's works for the piano starting in the 1940s. Both she and her sister Jeanne often performed as the soloists in his Turangalîla-Symphonie. In 1961, Loriod married Olivier Messiaen following the death of his first wife, Claire Delbos. She is generally considered to be the most important interpreter of Messiaen's piano works. In her later years, she and Messiaen acted as mentor to the pianist Pierre-Laurent Aimard, who