CARRARD, Lily

Lily Carrard was a Swiss pianist, composer, music teacher and choral conductor. She was born on 9 January 1907 in Founex, in the canton of Vaud, where her parents operated a boarding house.
Carrard studied piano with Georges Pileur in Geneva. Her documented performing career began in 1930, when she accompanied the Chœur du Léman in a concert at the church in Crassier. In 1934, she received her diploma from the Conservatoire de Musique de Neuchâtel.
As a teacher, Carrard taught piano, singing and solfège to several generations of students in Versoix and the surrounding region. From 1931 until approximately 1980, she regularly organised public performances by her pupils. One of her students was the Swiss composer, musicologist and conductor Édouard Garo.
Carrard composed piano pieces and songs. Beginning in 1939, her vocal works were performed by regional choirs, and some of her compositions were recorded by Radio Suisse Romande. She also directed choirs, succeeding Georges Pileur as conductor of the mixed choir Le Lilas and becoming director of L’Écho du Valais in 1958.
Lily Carrard died on 30 December 1995.