PATRICK MESSINA
Clarinet
First Principal Clarinet with the Orchestre National de France since 2003, Patrick Messina is considered to be one of the leading clarinettists of our time.
Born in Nice, France, of Sicilian and Spanish parentage, he began taking lessons with his father and continued his studies with Guy Deplus and Michel Arrignon at the Paris Conservatory, Franklin Cohen at the Cleveland Institute of Music and Ricardo Morales in New York’s Mannes College. Aged only 18, he won first prize at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique in Paris.
He has performed as a soloist with such orchestras as the Houston Symphony Orchestra, the Orchestre National de France, the Orchestre de Cannes, the Kioi Sinfonietta in Japan, the Icheon Philharmoic in Korea, the Orchestre de Chambre de Toulouse, the National Philharmonic Orchestra of Ukraine and the Orchestre de Chambre de Paris under the direction of such conductors as Riccardo Muti, Bernard Haitink, Yehudi Menuhin, Tan Dun, Daniele Gatti, Sascha Goetzel, Jaap Van Zweden and Trevor Pinnock.
He collaborates as Principal Clarinettist with the Metropolitan Opera of New York, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra of Amsterdam and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. An avid chamber-music player, he has played alongside renowned artists such as Edita Gruberova, Chen Reiss, Daniel Hope, Bruno Giuranna, Michel Beroff, Fabrizio Chiovetta, Jean-Marc Luisada, Roger Muraro, Menahem Pressler, Jean-Yves Thibaudet, Gautier Capuçon, Henri Demarquette, Xavier Phillips, the Beaux Arts Trio, the Philharmonia Quartett Berlin, the Aron, Carducci, Debussy, Diotima, Hermes, Parker, Vogler and the Fine Arts Quartet.
He has won numerous competitions and awards including the Yehudi Menuhin Foundation, East and West International Auditions in New York, the Ima Hogg National Competition and the Heida Hermann’s Internazionale Competition. He won critical acclaim for his CD for Harmonia Mundi / Radio France “Mozart” with Riccardo Muti and the Orchestre National de France. He has been teaching at the Ecole Normale de Musique de Paris and as Guest Professor at the Royal Academy of Music in London since 2007.