PAUL MEYER, Clarinet
One of the world’s most outstanding and sought after clarinetists, Paul Meyer has appeared with major orchestras wolrwide such as the Royal Concertgebouw Amsterdam, the BBC Philharmonic, the NHK Symphony, the Berlin Symphony, the Dresden Philharmonic, Hamburg and Hanover NDR Orchestras, the Mahler Chamber Orchestra, the Orchestre National de France, the Orchestre de Paris, the Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte-Carlo, the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande with conductors like Myung-Whun Chung, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Sir Yehudi Menuhin, Marek Janowski, Günther Herbig, Michael Gielen, Hans Graf, Dennis Russell Davies, John Nelson, Kent Nagano, Emmanuel Krivine, Sylvain Cambreling, Luciano Berio, Ulf Schirmer, Heinrich Schiff, Michael Schonwandt, David Zinman…
In chamber music, Paul Meyer has regularly performed with Myung-Whun Chung, Eric Le Sage, Renaud and Gautier Capuçon, Gérard Caussé, François-René Duchable, Michel Dalberto, Maria Joao Pires, Jean-Yves Thibaudet, Gidon Kremer, Yuri Bashmet, Pamela Frank, Yo-Yo Ma, Emanuel Ax, Barbara Hendricks, Natalie Dessay, Mstislav Rostropovich, Heinrich Schiff, Tabea Zimmermann, Jian Wang and Emmanuel Pahud, as well as the Carmina, Cleveland, Emerson, Hagen, Melos, Vogler, Ysaye, Ebène, Modigliani, Lindsay and Takacs String Quartets, but also Jean-Pierre Rampal and Isaac Stern.
Paul Meyer has a wide repertoire which includes the major contemporary works for clarinet (Pierre Boulez, Morton Gould, Hans-Werner Henze, Gerd Kuhr, …). Krysztof Penderecki composed for him a concerto which he premiered at the Bad Kissingen Festival with the Sinfonia Varsovia conducted by the composer. He was dedicated a clarinet concerto (Alternatim) by Luciano Berio and premiered it in Europe and in the USA. He also gave a premiere of Michael Jarrell’s Concerto for clarinet with the Orchestre de Paris and Sylvain Cambreling.
Paul Meyer has recorded pieces by Mozart, Weber, Copland, Busoni, Krommer, Pleyel, Brahms, Schumann, Bernstein, Arnold, Piazzolla, Poulenc for Denon, CBS, Erato, Sony, EMI, BMG, DGG. His recordings received numerous prizes (Diapason d’Or, Choc du Monde de la Musique, Stern by Monats Fonoforum, French Victoires de la Musique 1999). Among the recently released albums are the Astor Piazzolla Concerto para Quintetto with Gidon Kremer (Nonesuch), Messiaen’s Quartet for the End of Time with Myung-Whun Chung, Gil Shaham, Jian Wang (DGG), chamber music with Emmanuel Pahud and Eric Le Sage, and the Mozart Clarinet Concerto with the Ensemble Orchestral de Paris and John Nelson (Virgin Classics).
Paul Meyer has gradually built up an extensive career as a conductor. In 2007, Myung-Whun Chung appointed him Associate Conductor of the Seoul Philhamarmonic. In July 2010, he will conduct the Kammerakademie Potsdam at Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw and Rheingau Festival in Germany, in the fall he will conduct the Hamburger Symphoniker at the Laeiszhalle and will tour with the Stuttgarter Kammer Orchester in Spain in the spring 2011.
He toured in 2004 with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra across the UK and Germany with Emmanuel Pahud as a soloist, and conducted subscription concerts of such orchestras as the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, the Tokyo Philharmonic, the Taipei Symphony Orchestra, the China Philharmonic, the Münchner Kammer Orchester, the Stuttgarter Kammer Orchester, the Zürcher Kammer Orchester, the Orchestra Verdi di Milano, the Orchestra di Padova e del Veneto, the Copenhagen Philharmonic, the Orchestre National de Bordeaux, the Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse, the Orchestre Philharmonique de Strasbourg, the Orchestre Philharmonique de Nice,the Ensemble Orchestral de Paris, the English Chamber Orchestra, the Sinfonia Varsovia, the Belgrade Philharmonic,…. Paul Meyer learnt a lot in conducting from John Carewe who also taught to Sir Simon Rattle.
Paul Meyer was born in Mulhouse, France in 1965. Following his debut performance at the age of 13 with the Orchestre Symphonique du Rhin, he went on to study at the Paris Conservatoire and at the Basler Musikhochschule. Winner of the French Young Musicians Competition in 1982 and of the prestigious USA Young Concert Artists Auditions in 1984, he went on to give debut concerts in New York and consequently met and became friends with the legendary Benny Goodman, whose influence and friendship played an important part in Paul Meyer’s career and life.
