Yvette Horner

Yvette Hornère (who later adopted the surname Horner, at her mother's suggestion), spent a few years of her childhood in Rabastens-de-Bigorre, where her father, Louis Hornère, was a property developer. She was an only child. Her mother encouraged her to play music, and her teacher, Marguerite Lacoste, taught her her first notes on the piano. She studied music at the conservatory of Tarbes, then at the conservatory of Toulouse where, at the age of 11, she obtained a first prize in piano. Her mother convinced her to abandon her instrument for the chromatic accordion, explaining to her that there were no female accordionists, and that she would then be able to sustain herself. Throughout her life, Yvette Horner remained nostalgic for her first instrument, with which she her prize-winning recital of classical works Le Jardin secret d'Yvette Horner, and performed many times as a pianist on TV shows. However, she made her débuts at the "Théâtre Impérial" in Tarbes (later renamed "Théâtre des Nouveautés"), which belonged to her paternal grandmother.

She played in Pyrenean casinos before moving to Paris, where she was a student of Robert Bréard.

In 1938, Yvette Horner participated, with Freddy Balta and André Lips, in the first accordion world championships organized in Paris, at the Moulin de la Galette, by the Confédération internationale des accordéonistes. She finished second after Freddy Balta.

She gave her first concert in 1947 in Paris and, in 1948, she was the first woman to win the Coupe mondiale de l'accordéon. She was awarded the Grand Prix International d'Accordion de Paris in 1953.