One of the world’s leading clarinettists, Paul Meyer is also a well-established orchestral conductor with over twenty years’ experience. Having studied with Charles Bruck and John Carewe, he went on to assist leading conductors such as Marek Janowski, Emmanuel Krivine and Myung-Whun Chung, the latter appointing him associate conductor of the Seoul Philharmonic in 2007. In 2009, he was appointed Principal Conductor of the Tokyo Kosei Wind Orchestra, where he explored contemporary repertoire and toured throughout Japan and abroad. He has conducted numerous symphony orchestras around the world including the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Hamburg Symphony Orchestra, Brussels Philharmonic, Belgrade Philharmonic, Prague Philharmonic, Royal Flemish Philharmonic, Danish Symphony, Bilbao Symphony, Orquesta Filarmonica de Bogota, Tokyo Philharmonic, Tokyo Metropolitan and Schleswig-Holstein Festival Orchestra.

In 2019 he became Chief Conductor of the Mannheim Chamber Orchestra, where his programmes present Mozart’s work alongside his contemporaries and repertoire from the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Other chamber orchestras he has conducted include the Orchestre de Chambre de Paris, the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, English Chamber Orchestra, Stockholm Chamber Orchestra, Prague Chamber Orchestra, Sinfonia Varsovia, Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra and Munich Chamber Orchestra.

His extensive discography includes over 50 works with major labels such as DGG, Sony, RCA, EMI, Virgin, Alpha and Aeon, which have won numerous awards. In his latest release, he conducts Mozart piano concertos with pianist Sélim Mazari and the Mannheim Chamber Orchestra.

He also has considerable experience of both playing and directing from the clarinet. Examples of his recordings include the four clarinet concertos of Louis Spohr with the Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne, and a recording of double clarinet concertos with Michel Portal and the Orchestre Royal de Chambre de Wallonie.

In 2012 Paul Meyer was awarded France’s highest cultural honour, the Commander of the Order of Arts and Letters, for his contribution to the arts in France and throughout the world.

Photo credit: Seoul Philharmonic