Andr\u00e9 was born in Al\u00e8s in the C\u00e9vennes, into a mining family. His father was an amateur musician; Andr\u00e9 studied trumpet with a friend of his father, who suggested that Andr\u00e9 be sent to the conservatory. In order to gain free admission to the conservatory, he joined a military band. After only six months at the conservatory, he won his first prize.<\/p>\n
At the conservatory, Andr\u00e9’s professor beat him out of frustration and told him to return when he could excel in his playing. A few weeks later, he returned to play all fourteen etudes found in the back of the Arban’s book without a single mistake.\u00a0Maurice Andr\u00e9 won the Geneva International Music Competition in 1955 and the ARD International Music Competition in Munich in 1963. He was made an honorary member of the Delta chapter of Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia at Ithaca College in New York in 1970.<\/p>\n
Andr\u00e9 rose to international prominence in the 1960s and 1970s with a large series of recordings of Baroque works on piccolo trumpet for Erato and other labels. Not content to limit himself to the standard Baroque trumpet repertoire, Andr\u00e9 also performed many transcriptions of works for oboe, flute, and even voice and string instruments. These recordings were (and remain) very popular, and were a strong component of the rebirth of interest in Baroque music in the 1960s. Andr\u00e9 had over 300 audio recordings to his name, from the mid-1950s to his death.Andr\u00e9 spent the last few years of his life in retirement in southern France. He died at the age of 78 in a hospital in Bayonne on 25 February 2012.\u00a0He is buried in the cemetery of the village of Saint-Andr\u00e9-Capc\u00e8ze (in the Loz\u00e8re).<\/p>\n