French Conductor

Jane Evrard, born Jeanne Chevallier Poulet, was a French musician. She began playing the violin at the age of seven and entered the Conservatoire de Paris at twelve. By fourteen, she had won the première médaille in solfège and studied under Augustin Lefort. It was here that she met fellow student and violinist Gaston Poulet, whom she married in 1912.

Evrard occasionally played second violin in her husband’s string quartet, the Quartet Poulet. In 1917, the duo performed Claude Debussy’s Quartet in G minor for the composer, who reportedly exclaimed, “Don’t change anything, from now on this is how it should be played!”

In the 1920s, Evrard remained active in the amateur music scene, organizing chamber music recitals and conducting small ensembles for charity events.

In 1930, with encouragement from critic Émile Vuillermoz, who admired her work with amateur musicians, Evrard founded the Orchestre féminin de Paris, an all-female orchestra consisting of twenty-five string players. Due to the difficulty of finding women for woodwind and brass positions, the orchestra performed primarily as a string ensemble, occasionally collaborating with male musicians.

As the only string orchestra in Paris during the 1930s, the group enjoyed a unique position, with little competition for the large repertoire available to them. They specialized in both early and modern music. The orchestra toured Europe, performing in France, Portugal, Spain, and the Netherlands, earning rave reviews for both their music and their striking appearance. Evrard, tall, blonde, and glamorous, led the orchestra while they wore long black evening gowns and styled their hair beautifully.

During World War II, the orchestra performed less often, as many of its members took up positions in other orchestras whose male musicians had been conscripted. Their final concert of premieres took place on May 12, 1942. After the war, the orchestra was not revived. Evrard continued her teaching and conducting career on a freelance basis until her retirement in 1965.