Paul Meyer was born in the town of Mulhouse 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. The winner of the French Young Musician's Competition in 1982 and of the prestigious USA Young Concert Artists competition in 1984, he went on to give debut concerts in New York.

One of the world's exceptional clarinettists, Paul Meyer has appeared with many major orchestras in Europe, the USA, the Far East and Australia. He has worked with conductors such as Emmanuel Krivine, Günther Herbig, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Yehudi Menuhin, Jerzy Maksymiuk, Kent Nagano, Ulf Schirmer, Heinrich Schiff, David Zinman, Michael Gielen and Luciano Berio.

Paul Meyer has a particularly wide concerto repertoire which not only encompasses classic and romantic works but also many of the major contemporary works for clarinet. He gave the world premieres of Gerd Kuhr's Concerto at the Salzburg Festival, of MacMillan's Concerto in Glasgow, of Krysztof Penderecki's concerto at the Bad Kissingen Festival. He also gave the world premiere of Luciano Berio's "Alternatim", a concerto for clarinet, viola and orchestra, which was written especially for him and performed in Berlin, Paris, Rome, Tokyo, Wales, at the Salzburg Festival and at Carnegie Hall in New York.

Paul Meyer's chamber music partners have included Eric Le Sage (his regular duo partner), François-René Duchable, Maria Joao Pires, Pamela Frank, Jean-Pierre Rampal, Yuri Bashmet, Gerard Caussé, Gidon Kremer, Yo-Yo Ma, Mstislav Rostropovitch, Vladimir Spivakov, Tabea Zimmermann, Heinrich Schiff, Barbara Hendricks, Nathalie Dessay, Emmanuel Pahud, Myung-Whun Chung and Gil Shaham as well as the Carmina, Cleveland, Hagen, Melos, Emerson, Takacs and Vogler Quartets.

As well his work as a clarinettist, Paul Meyer is becoming increasingly interested in conducting (English Chamber Orchestra, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Munchener Kammerorchester, Symphonic Orchestra of Bilbao, Ensemble Orchestral de Paris, Symphonic Orchestra of Taipei, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France and Chamber Orchestra of Geneva).

His discography includes works by Mozart, Weber, Copland, Busoni, Krommer, Pleyel, Schumann, Bernstein, Arnold and Piazzolla and he was awarded several prizes [Diapason d'Or, Choc du Monde de la Musique, Stern des Monats Fonoforum, Prix de la révélation musicale).

Recent concerts in the UK include a performance at the Wigmore Hall with the Ysaye Quartet, playing Brahms's clarinet quintet and the UK premier of Cerha's clarinet quintet. Paul returns to the Wigmore Hall in the 2007/8 season.

UK, USA

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