About us

The International Flute Competition Maxence Larrieu-Nice is organized by the members of the “À Travers la Flûte” Association and the competition committees, which consist of professional musicians, teachers, and artistic advisors from the music industry. These committees are divided into three categories : the Organizing Committee, the Honorary Committee, and the Artistic and Strategic Committee.

Organizing Committee Competition

Honorary Committee

• Maxence Larrieu, President of the Jury, Honorary President of the “À Travers la Flûte” Association
• Lionel Bringuier, Conductor
• Guillaume Connesson, Composer
• Benoit Fromanger, Conductor and Flutist
• Marie-Josèphe Jude, Pianist, Concert Performer, Director of the Summer Academy of Nice
• Emmanuel Pahud, International Concert Flutist

Previous Editions’ Jury Members

Jean Ferrandis, Davide Formisano, Claude Lefebvre, Shimizu Nobutaka, Vicens Prats, Gretchen Pusch, Silvia Careddu, Sanqing Chen, Jürgen Franz, Patrick Gallois, Michel Moraguès, Ana Maria Ribeiro, Rogerio Wolf, Jocelyn Aubrun, Jaeyoung Bae, Emily Beynon, Qiling Chen, Niurka Gonzalez, Sarah Louvion, Félix Renggli, Geneviève Amar, William Bennett, José-Daniel Castellon, Guy Cottin, Shigenori Kudo, Robert Langevin, Salvatore Lombardi, Giuseppe Nova, Philippe Pierlot.

Artistic and Strategic Committee

• Richard Séguin – Patronage, Governance, President
• Nicolas Droin – Worldwide Music Network, France
• Sarah Louvion – Principal Flutist at the Frankfurt Opera : Artistic Advisor
• Thierry Muller – Director of the Conservatory of Nice
• Sibel Pensel – Artistic Director

À Travers la Flûte Association

The French Flute Association « À Travers la Flûte » was founded in 2002 by the flute teachers of the French Riviera who wished to share their passion for this instrument. The goal of the association is to promote the flute under all its facets, through the organization and the creation of events concerning educational activities and production (conventions, concerts, forum, workshops, masterclass and competitions…).

The association “À travers la flûte” was awarded by the french Youth and Sport Ministry in 2009.

Chairwoman : Sibel Pensel
Vice-Chairman : Mauricio Lozano
Honorary Chairman : Maxence Larrieu
Secretary : Caroline Debonne
Assistant Secretary : Prisca Eskenazi
Treasurer : Samuel Duque
Assistant Treasurer : Marlène Brisard

• Every year in February , the Association À travers la flute organizes the Flute Days or “Flutissimo Flute Festival”, which includes concerts, workshops, masterclass, sponsored music stands and a flute competition, alternately « Flute Ensembles Competition » and « Flute and Piano Competition ».
• From 2007 , every 4 years in October the association organizes The International Maxence Larrieu Flute Competition.
  This high level competition is now amongst the 5 largest international flute competitions in
  the world. Each edition (2007, 2011, 2015 and 2019) hosted many talented young international flutists from 30 different countries, who have played in front of well internationally known flutists, under the supervision of Maxence Larrieu.
  The winners of previous editions are now enjoying brilliant careers.
• The Association created in 2006 the orchestra “Orchestre Les Flûtes d’Azur“
  This orchestra is conducted by Mauricio Lozano and consists of 30 best young flutists from different conservatories of the Côte d’Azur.
  The orchestra has all of the variations of the flute.
  On occasion, a bass and percussions are added.
  Its rich and varied repertoire lends itself to exploring different styles, from classical to jazz, including a wide variety of traditional music. They have performed in Germany, Norway, Turkey, Switzerland, Poland and Italy.
  Les Flûtes d’Azur also participated in the “International Competition of Orchestras of the Flute” in Freiburg, Germany in March of 2013, and received the first prize.
• Another successful activity of the association is the Summer Flute Academy.
  Since 2016, the academy has invited internationally renowned flutists for students of different nationalities. For one week, the students can have lessons in flute with known flute artists, participate in chamber music and orchestra, as well as take place in different activities.
• Since March 2021, the association organizes Agora Flute which is an online forum that allows flutists from different countries to discuss and exchange knowledge on different topics.

The Association À travers la flute is part of the European Flute Society.