Serge Collot

French viola player and teacher Serge Collot was born on 27 December 1923 in Paris, where, at the Conservatoire, he studied viola with Maurice Vieux, chamber music with Joseph Calvet and composition with Maurice Hewitt and Arthur Honegger. He won first prize in viola (1944) and chamber music (1949).

He formed Le Trio à Cordes Français in 1960 with violinist Gérard Jarry and cellist Michel Tournus, a group which performed together for more than three decades.

He led the viola section in the Paris Opera orchestra (1957-86) and was professor of viola at the Conservatoire de Paris (1969-89).

His instrument was a 1741 David Tecchler viola.

Serge Collot died in Gerzat on 11 August 2015, aged ninety-one.