Born in Soignies, Belgium, Jean-Pierre Dassonville began his musical studies under the guidance of his father, and completed them at the Royal Conservatories of Mons and Liège in the class of Nico De Marchi. He went on to perfect his skills with Francis Orval and Claude Maury.
Very early on, he was engaged in various orchestras. He was successively hornist in the Orchestre d'Harmonie de la Musique des Guides, the Orchestre Symphonique de la RTBF, the Orchestre du Vlaamse Opéra and is currently principal horn of the Orchestre du Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie in Brussels.
He is also intensely interested in the natural horn, of which he is a much sought-after performer. He has performed as principal horn with ensembles such as Les Agrémens, ex Tempore, Il Gardellino, Les Muffati, Le Cercle de l'Harmonie, the Orchestre des Champs Elysées and the Collegium Vocale under Philippe Herreweghe.
As a chamber musician, both on the modern and natural horn, he has performed with the ensembles of La Monnaie, including Antonio Pappano, the Oxalys, Quartz, Odéon, Soltice, Mengal and Il Gardellino ensembles, the Wolf collective, the Concert Bourgeois, the Danel Quartet, in a duo with the pianofortist Guy Van Waas, and the Agrémens wind quintet.
With all these ensembles, he has taken part in countless recordings and videos.
As a soloist, he has performed with the Orchestre de la Monnaie conducted by Kasushi Ono, the Ensemble Orchestral de Bruxelles, the Orchestre Lyrique de Région Avignon Provence and the Bruocella Orchestra.
At the Vire horn festival, he premiered Roland Schoelinck's concerto, a work of which he is the dedicatee. He is a regular guest at the Vire, Avignon, Montreal and Annecy horn festivals, at the International Horn Society symposium in London, and recently in Liverpool with the British Horn Society.
He gives masterclasses, notably at the Epsilon festival in Saint-Yrieix La Perche, in Anjou as part of ARAM, at the Vire and Avignon festivals, at the higher education centres in Dijon, Lille and Strasbourg, at the Montreal Conservatoire, at the early music seminar in Namur, at the international academy in Dinant, at the summer academy in Saint Vaast, at various congresses of the French Horn Association, in Birmingham and at the Royal Northerm College of Music in Manchester invited by the British Horn Society, at the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music in Singapore, at Seoul National University where he teaches both the modern horn and the natural horn. He has also been invited to teach at the Jeune Orchestre Atlantique in Saintes.
The International Horn Society has also recognised him as one of the leading exponents of the "European" horn style. As part of this, in August 2014 he played a recital on an Adolphe Sax Horn with 6 valves at the annual symposium in London.
He also won the Alphorn competition - another of his passions... - in Nendaz, Switzerland.
All these activities have led him to perform in Europe, Japan, Canada, China, Korea, Singapore and the United States.