Paul Meyer

Born in Mulhouse in 1965, Paul Meyer studied at the Conservatoire Supérieur de Paris and the Musikhochschule Basel, giving his first solo concert at the age of thirteen. He began his solo career after winning the Eurovision Competition for Young French Musicians in 1982, and the prestigious Young Concert Artists Competition in 1984 in New York.

Considered one of today's most outstanding clarinettists, Paul Meyer plays with most of the major orchestras, including the Orchestre National de France, the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, the Royal Concertgebouw Amsterdam, the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, the NHK, the Berlin Symphony Orchestra, the Dresden Philharmonic, the NDR Orchestra Hanover, the Sinfonia Varsovia, Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte-Carlo, Orchestre de Bordeaux, Orchestre de Strasbourg, Gustav Mahler Chamber Orchestra, under such great conductors as Luciano Berio, Dennis Russell Davies, Michael Gielen, Hans Graf, Günther Herbig, Marek Janowski, Emmanuel Krivine, Jerzy Maksymiuk, Yehudi Menuhin, Kent Nagano, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Heinrich Schiff, Ulf Schirmer, Michael Schonwandt and David Zinman.

In addition to the classical and romantic repertoire, Paul Meyer takes part in the premiere of contemporary works, including Penderecki's concerto at the Bad Kissingen Festival, Gerd Kühr's concerto at the Salzburg Festival, James MacMillan's concerto in Glasgow, and Luciano Berio's “Alternatim”, a concerto written for him, which he also performed in Berlin, Paris, Rome, Tokyo, Wales, at the Salzburg Festival and at Carnegie Hall in New York. In Paris, he gave the world premiere of Michael Jarrell's Clarinet Concerto with the Orchestre de Paris and Sylvain Cambreling, and at the Konzerthaus in Vienna, the world premiere of Krzystof Penderecki's Piano Quintet with Mstislav Rostropovitch, Yuri Bashmet, Dmitri Alexeev and Julian Rachlin.

In 2004/05, with the Orchestre Philharmonique de Strasbourg, he premiered Jean-Luois Agobet's Concerto for three clarinets and Quigan Chen's Clarinet Concerto, and with the Orchestre de Bretagne, Jean-Philippe Goude's work for clarinet and orchestra “Une ouverture”. A keen chamber music player, Paul Meyer collaborates with eminent artists and friends including François-René Duchâble, Eric Le Sage, Myung-Whun Chung, Michel Dalberto, Jean-Yves Thibaudet, Maria Joao Pirès, Renaud and Gautier Capuçon, Yuri Bashmet, Gérard Caussé, Gidon Kremer, Yo-Yo Ma, Mstislav Rostropovitch, Vladimir Spivakov, Tabea Zimmermann, Heinrich Schiff, Barbara Hendricks, Natalie Dessay, Emmanuel Pahud and the Carmina, Cleveland, Hagen, Melos, Emerson, Takacs, Vogler and Ysaye string quartets.

He has had the honor of playing with Isaac Stern and Jean-Pierre Rampal. Paul Meyer increasingly devotes himself to conducting, notably with the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, the Ensemble Orchestral de Paris, the Orchestres de Bordeaux, Nice and du Capitole de Toulouse, the English Chamber Orchestra, the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, the Munich Chamber Orchestra, the Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra, the Geneva Chamber Orchestra, the Orchestra di Padova et del Veneto, the Orchestre Symphonique G. Verdi Symphony Orchestra, Belgrade Philharmonic Orchestra, Bilbao Symphony Orchestra, Taipei Symphony Orchestra. He has toured France with the Prague Chamber Orchestra (Mozart Requiem) and Sinfonia Varsovia, and Italy with the Orchestre d'Archi Italiana.

Recently, he has conducted the Tokyo Philharmonic, the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France with Michel Portal as soloist, the Orchestre National d'Ile de France, the Scottish Chamber Orchestra with Emmanuel Pahud on tour throughout Scotland and Germany, and the Orchestre Philharmonique de Nice. In 2012, he premiered Thierry Escaich's clarinet concerto commissioned by Buffet Crampon. His discography includes works by Mozart, Weber, Copland, Busoni, Krommer, Pleyel, Brahms, Schumann, Bernstein, Arnold, Piazzolla and Poulenc for Denon, Erato, Sony, EMI and BMG. His recordings have won numerous awards (Diapason d'Or, Choc du Monde de la Musique, Stern des Monats Fonoforum, Prix de la révélation musicale, Victoires de la Musique 99). Recent releases include Messiaen's “Quartet for the End of Time” with Myung-Whun Chung, Gil Shaham and Jian Wang (DGG), Hartmann's Kammerkonzert with the Munich Chamber Orchestra (ECM), a Brahms recital with Eric Le Sage (BMG), chamber music with Emmanuel Pahud and Eric Le Sage, and his first CD as conductor with the Orchestra di Padova e del Veneto and Jean-Marc Luisada (BMG). Latest release: Mozart Concerto with the Ensemble Orchestral de Paris and John Nelson (Virgin Classics).

The Quintette Moraguès has played in the great Parisian theatres : Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, Gaveau, Musée d’Orsay and Théâtre du Châtelet. They are frequently invited to festivals, Radio France Montpellier, La Roque d’Anthéron, Périgord Noir and La Baule. The group has also toured abroad, Japan (1997), Germany (1995), USA, Switzerland, Holland, Easten Europe. In total they have given over 350 concerts since their creation. His partners are Christian Zacharias, Jean-Claude Pennetier, Michel Dalberto, Alain Planès, Pascal Rogé.

In 1992 the Quintette Moraguès made a triumphant tour of Paris and the rest of France with the pianist Sviatoslav Richter, the tour eached its leight at the Pouchkine Museum in Moscow.The recording of one of those concerts is in a boxed edition by Philips devoted to this great artist. The Quintette Moraguès has made several recordings, their 20th Century music, Mendelssohn and Mozart were enthusiastically received by the press and the Mozart won the Grand Prix de la Nouvelle Académie du Disque. Pascal is an official endorser for Buffet Crampon.