Daniel Roth (organist)

Daniel Roth is a Chevalier de la Légion d'Honneur, an Officier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, and an Honorary Fellow of the Royal College of Organists. In 2006, he received the European Prize of European sacred music from the German Schwäbisch Gmünd Festival.

In 1974-76, he held the position of Artist-In-Residence at the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception and professor of organ in the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. He held teaching positions of organ in the conservatoires of Marseille (1974-1979), Strasbourg (1979-1988) and Saarbrücken (1988-1995). In 1995-2007, he taught organ performance and improvisation at the Frankfurt University of Music and Performing Arts. In addition, he was consultant for the new organ by the Karl Schuke company at the Luxembourg Philharmonie, which he dedicated in 2005.

He won several prestigious organ competitions, including the competition of the "Amis de l'orgue" and Grand Prix in organ performance and improvisation at Concours de Chartres in 1971 (alongside Yves Devernay).

In 1963, Roth became Falcinelli's deputy at the great organ at Basilique du Sacré-Coeur in Paris. He succeeded her as titular organist in 1973, and held this position until 1985, when he was appointed titular organist at Saint-Sulpice in Paris, where his predecessors were Charles-Marie Widor, Marcel Dupré, and Jean-Jacques Grunenwald.

Roth was born in Mulhouse in Vichy France to René Roth and his wife Angèle (née Higelin). He began his musical training at the conservatoire in his hometown with Joseph Victor Meyer. In 1960, he entered the Conservatoire de Paris, where he graduated with five first prizes—in organ and improvisation (1963, class of Rolande Falcinelli), harmony (1962, class of Maurice Duruflé), counterpoint and fugue (1963, class of Marcel Bitsch), and piano accompaniment (1970, class of Henriette Puig-Roget). He also pursued later studies in organ with Marie-Claire Alain (sister of Jehan and Olivier, as well as the daughter of Albert) after graduating from Falcinelli's class.

François Daniel Roth (born 31 October 1942) is a French organist, composer, musicologist, and pedagogue. He currently serves as one of two cotitular organists at the church of Saint-Sulpice in France's capital, Paris, alongside Sophie-Véronique Cauchefer-Choplin.

He was married to Odile Josèphe-Georgette Mangin (9 June 1939 in Neuilly-sur-Seine — 9 March 2015 in the 9th arrondissement of Paris), and fathered four children from her; the most notable of which are conductor and flautist François-Xavier Roth, and the violist Vincent Roth. His grandson through the former, Félix, plays the French horn.