Emmanuel Pahud, flute
The French-Swiss flutist Emmanuel Pahud began his musical studies at the age of 6. After obtaining his prize at the Paris Conservatory in 1990, he followed the teaching of Aurèle Nicolet. He won first prize in the Duino, Kobe and Geneva competitions and at the age of 22 he was appointed principal flute of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra under the direction of Claudio Abbado, a position he still holds. Since then, he has given recitals and concerts all over the world.
Emmanuel Pahud is a guest of the most important festivals, orchestras and concert series throughout the world and has played under the direction of Claudio Abbado, Giovanni Antonini, Daniel Barenboim, Pierre Boulez, Ivan Fischer, Valery Gergiev, Sir John Eliot Gardiner, Daniel Harding, Paavo Järvi, Lorin Maazel, Yannick Nezet-Séguin, Andres Orozco-Estrada, Itzhak Perlman, Trevor Pinnock, Sir Simon Rattle, Mstislav Rostropovich or David Zinman.
Emmanuel Pahud is also an accomplished chamber musician and regularly gives recitals with Eric Le Sage, Alessio Bax, Yefim Bronfman, Hélène Grimaud, Stephen Kovacevich as well as with jazz pianist Jacky Terrasson. In 1993, together with Eric Le Sage and Paul Meyer, he founded the Salon de Provence Chamber Music Festival, which is still a very exceptional meeting place. In addition, he continues to collaborate for concerts and recordings with Les Vents français (François Leleux, Paul Meyer, Gilbert Audin and Radovan Vlatkovic).
With the aim of expanding the flute repertoire, he has initiated numerous commissions and premiered works by Elliott Carter, Marc-André Dalbavie, Thierry Escaich, Toshio Hosokawa, Michaël Jarrell, Philippe Manoury, Matthias Pintscher, Christian Rivet, Eric Montalbetti and Luca Francesconi, among others. He will premiere a concerto by Erkki-Sven Tüür and a new one by Toshio Hosokawa during this season.
Since 1996, Emmanuel Pahud has recorded 40 albums exclusively for EMI / Warner Classics, all of which have received unanimous acclaim and numerous awards and have significantly enriched the recorded flute repertoire.
Emmanuel Pahud has been elevated to the rank of Chevalier dans l’Ordre des Arts et Lettres for his contribution to music by the French government and awarded the title of Honorary Member of the Royal Academy of Music (HonRAM) in London. He is an ambassador for UNICEF.
photographic credits:
Josef Fischnaller Warner Classics