Breton harpist Marie-Madeleine Buffandeau-Maingourd passed away on Jan. 8 at the age of 89 in Ploufragan, Brittany, France (located near Saint-Brieuc, where she lived for three decades prior to her retirement in Ploufragan). Awarded a first prize in harp and in chamber music in 1956 from the Paris Conservatory, Buffandeau-Maingourd led an international career as a performer and musicologist. She taught both pedal and lever harp throughout Brittany and contributed to the 1960s revival of the Celtic harp in France through her work in the Telenn Bleimor (a Breton harp ensemble in Paris), where she mentored many harpists. Her ex-husband, Philippe Maingourd, remembers her as a “great name in classical and Breton music in the 1960s and 70s and beyond.”
—Based on newspaper articles published online in Le Télégramme on Jan. 11, 2026 and in Ouest-France on Jan. 10, 2026
