Julien Labro

The work of the eclectic musician Julien Labro, who plays accordion and the Argentine bandoneon, draws on classical music, jazz, and more. He has collaborated with a large variety of ensembles, including the Spektral Quartet, and he is also a composer. Labro was born near Toulouse, France, in the early '80s; a Chicago Tribune interview in 2014 gave his age as 33. He took up the accordion at age nine after seeing a musician play the instrument on television. Labro had a diverse education on the accordion, beginning with French folk music and then going on for classical training at the Marseille Conservatory of Music. He won a variety of awards in the late '90s, taking first prizes at the Couple Mondiale and Castelfidardo Competitions. Labro also discovered modern jazz during this period, and he moved to the U.S. in order to broaden his knowledge of that tradition. He made his recording debut on the 2003 release Astor Piazzolla Remixed. Labro studied for a time at Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan, and he appeared on several albums with the Hot Club of Detroit, including the group's eponymous 2006 release. Labro has appeared as a guest soloist with major orchestras in the U.S. and beyond, including the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, the Orchestra of St. Luke's, and the Qatar Philharmonic Orchestra. He is perhaps most notable for the range of his collaborations, which have included ongoing work, including recordings with the Spektral Quartet; the recording Another Country with jazz vocalist Cassandra Wilson; an album with saxophonist Miguel Zenón; and the 2017 album Rise & Grind with jazz guitarist Olli Soikkeli. In the spring of 2024, Labro toured the U.S. performing his own concertos, collaborated with the classical Takács Quartet, served as a musician-in-residence with the chamber orchestra Camerata Pacifica, and appeared at the avant-garde Big Ears Festival in Knoxville, Tennessee. In 2024, the Takács Quartet recorded his Meditation No. 1, along with works by fusion musician Clarice Assad and others. Labro has given master classes at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, Princeton University, the Cleveland Institute of Music, and other prestigious institutions.
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