Paul Meyer ranks among France’s foremost clarinetists, maintaining equal dedication to modern compositions and overlooked works from earlier periods. Both solo engagements and ensemble settings keep him constantly sought after.
Born in Mulhouse, France, on March 5, 1965, he began clarinet lessons in childhood and soon enrolled at the Mulhouse Conservatory. His evident ability led to an early appearance with the Symphony Orchestra of the Rhine when he was thirteen, after which he transferred the next year to the Paris Conservatory. There he earned prizes in both clarinet and chamber music at sixteen, then continued his training at the Musikhochschule Basel under Hans-Rudolf Stalder. The Eurovision Song Contest for Young Musicians brought him first place in 1982; one year later, at eighteen, he launched his professional life as a member of the Orchestre de l’Opéra de Lyon. Victory at the Young Concert Artists Competition in New York in 1984 generated a flood of engagements, while time spent in that city introduced him to jazz clarinetist Benny Goodman, who took on a mentoring role. Throughout the 1980s Meyer balanced posts in the Orchestre de l’Opéra de Paris and the Ensemble InterContemporain under Pierre Boulez. His first recording appeared in 1992 on Erato, a Kent Nagano-led account of Max Bruch’s Concerto for clarinet, viola, and orchestra.
As a concerto soloist he has performed with leading ensembles that include the BBC Philharmonic, the Dresden Philharmonic, and Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw Orchestra. Contemporary music has remained central to his activity: he has kept works by Stockhausen, Boulez, and Messiaen in his programs and has given the premieres of several new pieces for the instrument, among them Krzysztof Penderecki’s Clarinet Concerto, the composer’s own transcription of his Viola Concerto. His repertoire also encompasses concertos by lesser-known figures such as Franz Danzi, Franz Krommer, and Ignaz Pleyel. An avid chamber musician, Meyer has collaborated with artists of the caliber of soprano Barbara Hendricks, cellist Mstislav Rostropovich, and violinist Gidon Kremer.
His recorded output spans many labels and styles. Several projects appeared on Denon, among them surveys of Pleyel and unaccompanied twentieth-century clarinet music. In 1999 he moved to Erato for the Brahms clarinet sonatas and Weber’s Grand Duo Concertante, Op. 48, and later worked with ECM, RCA Red Seal, and Alpha. Conducting has formed another strand of his career; in 2012 he led the Lausanne Chamber Orchestra from the solo clarinet in a complete cycle of Ludwig Spohr’s concertos for the instrument. Alpha released his 2020 album Vienne 1900, recorded with a chamber quartet. He conducted accordionist Pascal Contet’s Tango in 2021 and directed the Chamber Orchestra of Mannheim the next year for pianist Sélim Mazari’s set of Mozart piano concertos. Returning to the clarinet in 2023, Meyer joined Eric Le Sage for a Sony Classical recital of Brahms and Carl Reinecke duos. Over a six-year period he collaborated with Buffet Crampon on the design of the Divine2 clarinet.
