Born in 1928, Jeanne Loriod was best known for playing an electronic instrument called an "ondes martenot" for numerous film scores, ranging from Lawrence of Arabia to Mars Attacks! Loriod's young sister, Yvonne, was a pianist who was married to renowned composer Olivier Messiaen, and the three often collaborated. But it was her mastery of the aforementioned ondes martenot (which translated means "Martenot waves," and creates electronic waves from a series of transistors, a keyboard, and a ribbon attached to a ring on the player's forefinger) that brought Loriod such raves as the following from London's Independent newspaper -- "the history of the ondes martenot is almost exactly that of Loriod's involvement with it." In addition, Loriod also taught others how to play the ondes martenot (as well as chamber music), wrote a textbook, and in 1970, she began teaching at the Paris Conservatory. Loriod died in southern France at the age of 73. ~ Greg Prato, Rovi