Florent Héau

Florent Héau trained at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris in Michel Arrignon's class, and between 1991 and 1995 was awarded several First Prizes in international competitions. He continues to perpetuate the tradition of the French clarinet school throughout the world, in master-classes and concerts.

Passionate about the music of his time, Florent Héau has taken part in the creation of new works including Thierry Escaich's Chant des ténèbres and Chorus, Karol Beffa's Encore, Nicolas Bacri's Sonatina lapidaria, Edith Canat de Chizy's Burning, and Felix Ibarrondo's Aizgor. He premiered Philippe Hersant's clarinet concerto with the Orchestre de Bretagne, and most recently Guillaume Connesson's concerto “A Kind of Trane” (clarinet and wind band version).

Florent Héau appears as soloist with the Orchestre de Bretagne, the Orchestre de Picardie, the Orchestre de la Basse-Normandie, the Orchestre de Nancy, the European Camerata, the Ensemble Orchestral de Paris, the Polish Radio Chamber Orchestra and the Prague Chamber Orchestra.... A guest at numerous festivals (Deauville, Folles Journées de Nantes, Bel-Air in Chambéry, Orangerie de Sceaux, Auvers-sur-Oise...), Florent Héau performs the great masterpieces of the chamber music repertoire alongside today's most talented musicians and ensembles.

Florent Héau is also a man of the stage, whose multiple talents find expression in the musical theater shows of Les Bons Becs, which have met with great success in Europe and Asia.

His discography includes Brahms and Reger sonatas (with Patrick Zygmanowski), Beethoven trios (with Jérôme Ducros and Henri Demarquette), Bacri's pieces for clarinet and strings, Mozart chamber music (with the Manfred Quartet) and Mozart's clarinet concerto (with the Prague Chamber Orchestra). With Marcela Roggeri, Florent Héau has recorded two albums devoted to Argentine composers Carlos Guastavino and Astor Piazzolla. His latest disc, released in 2020, is a Brahms monograph (op 114 and op 115) with J Pernoo, J Ducros and the Voce quartet.

Florent Héau teaches clarinet at the CRR de Paris (France) and the HEMU de Lausanne (Switzerland). He is also guest professor at Osaka College of Music (Japan) and the Shanghai Conservatory (China). He is also a regular guest in many European, Latin American and Asian countries.

He is also one of Buffet Crampon's R&D testers.

Francesco Di Rosa has been trusting Buffet Crampon since 1996 and participating in the continual improvement of our oboes day after day, as an endorser, since 2019.