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Michel Debost is among the leading French flutists of his generation and regarded by many as the successor to Jean-Pierre Rampal, both as a performer and pedagogue. Indeed, but he not only succeeds Rampal symbolically, he did so in actuality when he replaced him as professor of flute at the Conservatoire de Paris in 1982. Debost's credentials are most impressive: he has won five major international competitions over just a seven-year span (1957-1964) and served as principal flutist for 30 years in the Orchestre de Paris (1960-1990). In addition, he has made numerous acclaimed recordings for a variety of major labels, including EMI, Virgin Classics, DG, Sony Classics, Skarbo, Orfeo, and others. Not surprisingly, his repertory is broad, taking in not only an assortment of French works by Berlioz, Saint-Saëns, Fauré, Debussy, Ravel, Poulenc, Ibert, Jolivet, Messiaen, but a vast array of standards by J.S. Bach, Vivaldi, Telemann, Mozart, Beethoven, Enescu, Schoenberg, Bernstein, and a host of others. And he has performed many contemporary works, too, including the challenging Boulez Memoriale (... Explosante-Fixe... Originel).

Debost was born in Paris, France, on January 20, 1934. He studied at the Conservatoire de Paris, first obtaining a degree in science in 1952, then one in flute performance in 1954. His most important teachers there were Marcel Moyse, Gaston Crunelle, and Jan Merry. Debost graduated with prizes in flute and chamber music performance.

Debost's competition victories began at Moscow in 1957, and he followed with first prizes at Prague (1960), Munich (1960), Geneva (1961), and Turin (1964). Even before he won at Turin, he was internationally known: Debost was serving as principal flute in two major orchestras: the Orchestre de Paris (from 1960), and the Orchestre de la Société des Concerts du Conservatoire (from 1962), and he had begun international tours, including yearly ones to the U.S., from 1962.

Debost left the Orchestre de la Société des Concerts du Conservatoire in 1967, but remained active in his other orchestral post and as a soloist and chamber player. He began teaching at the Conservatoire de Paris from 1982, resigning in 1990. Debost's decision to leave both his teaching and orchestral posts in Paris had come as a result of his emigration to the U.S. in 1989 to accept a professorship at Oberlin Conservatory of Music, where he remains on the faculty. Debost's book A Simple Flute was published in 1996.

Methodical, unflappable (he is said to have seldom raised his voice), and subtle in the ways of the French repertory, Jean Fournet saw his career extend over an extraordinarily long period. After having established himself in his native country, he proved a welcome addition to opera companies in America, where the French style had become something of a lost art. Beyond stage work, he proved, both early and late, a persuasive interpreter of the French symphonic literature. After studies at the Paris Conservatoire, Fournet made his debut in his native city in 1936; two years later, he was engaged by Rouen on a permanent basis. In 1940, he moved to Marseilles and, beginning in 1944, presided over the Paris Opéra-Comique as music director, simultaneously offering instruction in the art of conducting at the École Normale. In the 1950s, he was involved in several recording projects that enhanced his reputation considerably, notably his Fauré Requiem and a lightly turned Les Pêcheurs de perles. Two further appointments awaited him in Europe before he turned to a regimen of guest conducting: in 1961 he became conductor of the Netherlands Radio Symphony, and from 1968 to 1973, he served as artistic director of the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra. Fournet made his American opera debut with the Chicago Lyric Opera in 1965 directing a double bill consisting of a staged Carmina Burana and Ravel's magical L'heure espagnole, the latter with Teresa Berganza, Alfredo Kraus, and Sesto Bruscantini. The conductor impressed immediately as one who could imprint elegance and respect for French style on his casts. His success led to further assignments, each helping reestablish the French wing in a city that had known great French artists in decades past. Among the productions were Les Pêcheurs de perles in 1966, another double bill (Le Rossignol and Oedipus Rex) in 1968, Werther in 1971, Pelléas et Mélisande in 1972, Manon in 1973, and Don Quichotte in 1974. In 1987, Fournet made his Metropolitan Opera debut conducting a production of Samson et Dalila. In addition to a number of orchestral discs, Fournet recorded the aforementioned Les Pêcheurs de perles for Philips with Léopold Simoneau and Pierrette Alarie, still unsurpassed. Fournet's Fauré and Berlioz Requiems are also impressive, likewise his 1973 Chicago Manon with Kraus and Zylis-Gara.