Paul Meyer

Paul Meyer, born in Mulhouse/ Alsace (France), gave his debut performance at the age of 13 as the soloist of the Orchestre Symphonique du Rhin. After that, he went on to study at the Conservatoire Paris and at the Musikhochschule Basel. 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.

Today, Paul Meyer is one of the world’s exceptional clarinettists and appears regularly with the major orchestras in Europe, the USA, Far East and Australia, such as the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra Amsterdam, BBC and Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra, NHK Symphony, Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra, Berlin and Dresden Philharmonic Orchestras, the Radio Symphony Orchestras of the NDR, Orchestre National de France, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, the Scottish and the English Chamber Orchestra as well as with the Chamber Orchestra of Zurich and the Sydney Symphony Orchestra. In doing so, he works together with renowned conductors like Yehudi Menuhin, Kent Nagano, Michael Gielen, Marek Janowski, Dennis Russell Davies, Luciano Berio, Heinrich Schiff, David Zinman, Sylvain Cambreling and Esa-Pekka Salonen.

Paul Meyer has a particularly wide concert repertoire, which also includes the major contemporary works for clarinet, for example by Pierre Boulez, Morton Gould and Hans-Werner Henze. Besides, he participated in numerous world premieres, for example in Gerd Kuhr’s concert for clarinet at the Salzburger Festspiele. Krysztof Penderecki composed a concert for him, which was presented by Paul Meyer together with the Sinfonia Varsovia in Bad Kissingen under the baton of the composer himself. Luciano Berio has also dedicated a concert to him – "Alternatim" – which he premiered in Europe and the USA with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra.

A grand part of Paul Meyer’s musical activities is devoted to chamber music projects. He regularly plays together with Renaud and Gautier Capuçon, Martha Argerich, Myung-Whun Chung, Mstislav Rostropovich, Michel Dalberto, Eric Le Sage, Gidon Kremer, Yuri Bashmet, Nathalie Dessay, Maria Jaos Pires, Yo-Yo Ma, Barbara Hendricks, Heinrich Schiff, Tabea Zimmermann and Emmanuel Pahud as well as with the string quartets Carmina, Emerson, Hagen, Vogler and Takacs. Furthermore, Paul Meyer has already had the honour of playing with Jean-Pierre Rampal and Isaac Stern.

Within the last years Paul Meyer has also built up an extensive career as a conductor. In 2007 he was appointed Associate Chief Conductor of the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra by Myung-Whun Chung. Since 2009 he has been the Chief Conductor of the Tokyo Kosei Wind Orchestra. Furthermore, Paul Meyer works together with renowned orchestras like the Orchestra Philharmonique de Radio France, Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra, Taipeh Symphony Orchestra, China Philharmonic Orchestra, the chamber orchestras of Munich, Stuttgart and Zurich, the Orchestra Sinfonica di Milano G. Verdi, Orchestra di Padova e del Veneto, Copenhagen Philharmonic Orchestra, Orchestre National de Bordeaux, Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse, Orchestre Philharmonique de Strasbourg, Orchestre Philharmonique de Nice, Ensemble Orchestral de Paris as well as with the English Chamber Orchestra and the Sinfonia Varsovia.
In autumn 2010 Paul Meyer is on tour with the Zurich Chamber Orchestra and Kit Armstrong, appearing in Gütersloh, Luxemburg, St. Gallen, Oviedo as well as at Alte Oper Frankfurt. In spring 2011 he is on a concert tour throughout Spain together with the Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra.

Conducting studies led him to John Carewe among others, who also taught Sir Simon Rattle.

His extensive discography includes works by Mozart, v. Weber, Copland, Busoni, Krommer, Pleyel, Brahms, Schumann, Bernstein, Arnold, Piazzolla and Poulenc and is published on the CBS, Sony, EMI, BMG, DGG, Denon and Erato labels. Numerous of these recordings have been decorated with prestigious awards, such as the Diapason d'Or, Choc du Monde de la Musique and the Prix de la révélation musicale. Most recently, Piazzolla’s Concerto para Quintetto with Gidon Kremer, Messiaen's "Quartet for the end of time" with Myhung-Whun Chung, Gil Shaham and Jian Wang, chamber music with Emmanuel Pahud and Eric Le Sage as well as Mozart’s concert for clarinet with the Ensemble Orchestral de Paris and John Nelson have been published.

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