Les Vents Français

Les Vents Francais was formed by core member Paul Meyer and his longtime friends, all internationally renowned artists, as a wind ensemble that carries on and celebrates the French spirit. The ensemble focuses on presenting rarely performed masterpieces and creating the finest performances by the finest musicians. It emphasizes the French tradition of bringing out the very best in each player even in ensemble performances. The members and formations, ranging from small groups to large ensembles, vary according to the repertory.
A CD of the complete Poulenc chamber works produced by and featuring members of Les Vents Francais received high acclaim upon its release in the Poulenc Year 1999 and was awarded the 37th Ongaku no Tomo Record Academy Grand Prize. Les Vents Francais subsequently released CDs of trios and Saint-Saens’ Le Carnaval des Animaux on RCA Red Seal. In 2012 their new recording of wind quintets, French Winds–Best Quintets, was released on EMI Japan and became the focus of much attention.

Les Vents Francais performed as an ensemble in Japan for the first time in March 2002. Their concert was aired on NHK TV, and their performance astonished audiences with a perfection far beyond anything they had imagined.

Early life
Travelling has been a big part of Emmanuel Pahud’s life from birth. His father worked for a U.S. company, and the family moved repeatedly during his childhood. However, this would only shape Pahud’s international outlook for his future. Only six weeks after Pahud was born, his parents moved to Baghdad for one year. They moved again when he was 1 to Paris, where Emmanuel’s younger brother was born. In 1972, they then moved to Madrid for two years, and in 1974, finally settled in Rome for four years. In their apartment building in Rome, lived the Swiss-French Binet family whose four children played musical instruments. The father (François) was a flautist who studied in Zurich and Paris but stopped performing in later years. At the age of four, Pahud first heard the flute. As the eldest son Philippe played the Flute Concerto No. 1 (Mozart) K.313 in G Major, it set the course to a remarkable chapter of Pahud’s life. He recalls:

I could hear the flute, the violin, the cello, the piano. I don’t know why I chose the flute but maybe it was because the eldest son was playing it, so he was the one playing at the best level at that time – or because the father was also a flute player, so there was a kind of authority there. Anyhow, I said to my parents, ‘I want to play the flute, I want to play the Mozart concerto that guy next door is practicing.’

That Christmas, after receiving his first flute, Pahud began his first year of lessons with Philippe (who was only 15 years old) and the next three years with Phillipe’s father, Fran?ois.

In 1978, at the age of eight, the Pahud family moved to Brussels, Belgium. Emmanuel then began studying at the Music Academy of Uccle in Southern Brussels. There he studied with Michel Moinil from 1979-1985. As he became more determined and focused on playing the flute at a higher level; Pahud began to study from 1984-87 with Carlos Bruneel, the then and current principal flautist of the Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie opera house in Brussels. In 1985, Pahud won the National Competition of Belgium (le concours National de Belgique) and in the same year, he played his first concert with the National Orchestra of Belgium, performing the piece that inspired him 11 years earlier: Mozart Concerto K.313 in G Major. Pahud remained in Brussels until receiving his A-Level at the age of 17 and went off to finish his schooling in Paris. With the strong support of his family, he also received lessons with other of Europe’s finest players, including Peter-Lukas Graf in Basel.
Studies and early accomplishments
Pahud attended the Conservatoire de Paris (Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris) in France, studying with Michel Debost, Alain Marion, Pierre Artaud, and Christian Larde. Whilst studying, he won two major competitions, one in Duino 1988 and the other in Kobe in 1989. In 1988, Emmanuel also won the 2nd Prize at the International Scheveningen Music Competition in Scheveningen, Netherlands. Winning these competitions put Pahud in the forefront to become principal flautist in the Basel Radio Symphony, under the direction of Nello Santi which he obtained the position in 1989 whilst finishing his studies in Paris. He resigned from the orchestra in 1992. Pahud also held the principal flautist position at the Munich Philharmonic under Sergiu Celibidache. Pahud graduated at the age of 20 from the Conservatoire in 1990, obtaining the First Prize (Premier Prix). He then continued to advance his studies for the next two years; in style and interpretation with one of France’s greatest flautists, Swiss-born Aurèle Nicolet who turned out to be his neighbour. In 1992, Nicolet prepared Pahud in an extensive 10 day rehearsal for both the Geneva International Music Competition, or le Concours International de Genève in September of that year and the audition for principal flautist of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra (BPO) in October.[6] He acknowledges achieving both the first prize at le Concours International de Genève and being appointed for the position at the age of 22 by BPO’s conductor, Claudio Abbado to his experience with Nicolet.

… [François Leleux is] a star act. Here was phenomenal skill and personality, displayed across a vast range of colours and dynamics, delivered with winking wit through an oboe constantly circling the air. -The Times

Recognised throughout the world as the best oboist of his generation, François Leleux enjoys an international career appearing with major orchestras and at important venues and festivals performing repertoire from the baroque to newly commissioned works. François has appeared at the Berlin Philharmonie with Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, the Vienna Musikverein with Tonkünstler Orchester, Théâtre des Champs-Élysées with Orchestre National de France, at the Sydney Opera House with Sydney Symphony, at Bunkamura with the NHK Symphony Orchestra and at the Lincoln Center as part of the Mostly Mozart Festival. He has worked with leading conductors such as Pierre Boulez, Mariss Jansons, Sir Colin Davis, Myung-whun Chung, Daniel Harding, Thomas Dausgaard, Wolfgang Sawallisch and Alan Gilbert.
From season 2012-13 Francois Leleux is Artist in Association with the Orchestre de chambre de Paris. In recent seasons he appeared as soloist with Budapest Festival Orchestra (with Ivan Fischer), Netherlands Radio Chamber Orchestra, Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte-Carlo and Malmo Symphony Orchestra. Orchestre de chambre de Paris, Tonkünstler Orchester, Camerata Salzburg, Swedish Chamber Orchestra, Scottish Chamber Orchestra and Gavle Symfoniorkester (Play-Direct). Alongside appearances as a soloist, Francois Leleux also devotes time to play-conduct engagements, most recently working with Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Sydney Symphony Orchestra, Bamberger Symphoniker and Orchestre de chambre de Paris, WDR Sinfonieorchester K?ln, Orchestra national de Lyon and the Aalborg Symphony Orchestra.
He has a commitment to expanding the oboe’s repertoire, and has had many new works commissioned for him by composers such as Nicolas Bacri, Thierry Pécou, Gilles Silvestrini, Eric Tanguy, Thierry Escaich, Giya Kancheli and Michael Jarrell. This season he will give the Scottish and French premieres of MacMillan’s Oboe Concerto with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra and Orchestre de chambre de Paris respectively. In 2010 he premiered a new concerto titled The Enchanter written by Albert Schnelzer and jointly commissioned by the Swedish Chamber Orchestra and the Scottish Chamber Orchestra. The work received warm praise in the press with one critic writing, “His concerto held me gripped…The “Enchanter” of the title is Leleux himself, and it’s a fitting tribute to his spellbinding playing. He turned the oboe into a multi-dimensional character, singing, dancing and leaping through his music.” François has also made his own transcriptions of arias from Mozart’s Don Giovanni and Die Zauberflöte which he has recorded with Camerata Salzburg for Sony.
François is a dedicated chamber musician, performing regularly all over the world with octet Ensemble Paris-Bastille and sextet Les Vents Français. In 2012-13 François will perform with the group as part of a residency at the Musikfest Bremen. Regular recital partners include harpist Isabell Moretti and his wife, violinist Lisa Batiashvili.
François Leleux has an exclusive recording contract with SONY Classical. So far, as part of this contract he has released five CDs – chamber music with Lisa Batiashvili, violist Lawrence Power and cellist Sebastian Klinger: music of J.S.Bach with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe and Mozart with Camerata Salzburg, Strauss’s Oboe Concerto recorded with Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra and Daniel Harding and Serenade for Winds performed with the ensemble Paris Bastille. His latest release, The Charm of the Oboe – recorded with the Munich Chamber Orchestra, features concerti by Cimarosa, Bellini, Marcello, Vivaldi, Gl?ck and Pasculli.
François Leleux is a Professor at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater M?nchen.

Paul Meyer divides his activities between conducting, solo recitals and chamber music.

Appointed associate conductor of the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra by Myung Whun Chung himself, from 2006 to 2012, Paul Meyer conducted over thirty symphonic programs and, in collaboration with the Music Director, established an Orchestral Academy designed to prepare young musicians for orchestral discipline. In 2009, Paul Meyer was appointed Principal Conductor of the Kosei Orchestra in Tokyo, with which he explores contemporary repertoire and gives concerts in Tokyo (Tokyo Opera City), as well as touring in Japan and abroad.

This season, Paul Meyer will conduct the following orchestras : Orchestre National de Belgique, Orchestre National d’Ile de France, Danish Symphony Orchestra, Tonkünstler Niederösterreich, Prague Philharmonic, Skopje Philharmonic, Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne, Stuttgarter Kammerorchester, Württembergisches Kammerorchester, the Tokyo Kosei Orchestra… His career as a soloist has taken him to Tokyo, at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles, as well as the Concertgebouw and Salle Pleyel in Paris. He will also be premiering concertos by Thierry Escaich and Edith Canat de Chizy.

In recent seasons, Paul Meyer has conducted the following orchestras:

Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Orchestre Philharmonique de Strasbourg, Orchestre Philharmonique de Nice, Orchestre symphonique de Mulhouse, Orchestre de l’Opéra de Marseille, Orchestre de Bordeaux, Orchestre du Capitole de Toulouse, Orchestre de Bretagne, Ensemble Orchestral de Paris, Orchestre National d’Ile de France, Orchestre des Concerts Lamoureux, Orchestre Philharmonique de Liège, Symfonieorkest Vlaanderen, Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra, China Philharmonic Orchestra, Shanghai Philharmonic Orchestra, Taipeh Symphonic Orchestra, Orchestre Symphonique de Taïpeh, Sinfonia Varsovia, Copenhagen Philharmonic Orchestra, Orquestra Sinfonietta de Lisboa, Orcestra Giuseppe Verdi di Milano, Russian National Orchestra, Belgrade Philharmonic, Prague Symphony Orchestra, Armenian Philharmonic Orchestra, Hamburger Sinfoniker, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Bilbao Orkestra Sinfonikoa, Graz Symphony Orchestra, … .

English Chamber Orchestra, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Zürcher Kammerorchester, Stuttgart Kammerorchester, Kammerakademie Potsdam, Münchener Kammerorchester, Orchestre de chambre de Genève, Prague Chamber Orchestra, Stockholm Chamber Orchestra, … .

As a soloist Paul Meyer has performed with the major orchestras, including: Orchestre National de France, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Orchestre de Paris, Koninklijk Concertgebouworkest, BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, Deutsches Symphonie- Orchester Berlin, WDR Rundfunkorchester Köln, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Tonhalle Orchester Zürich, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Russian State Symphony Orchestra, … .

Paul Meyer’s recording activities include more than 40 cds with major labels such as DGG, Sony, RCA, EMI, Virgin, Alpha and Aeon which have won numerous awards: Fono-Forum, Diapason d’Or, Choc du Monde de la Musique, Gramophon, Grammy Awards, … . Paul Meyer’s most recent recording as a conductor, with the Brussels Philharmonic, features works by John Corigliano and Eliott Carter. It will be released by Aeon in autumn 2012. Other new releases include his recording under the Alpha label of Louis Spohr’s 4 clarinet concertos with the Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne and, under the Ambitus label, Joseph Haydn’s horn concertos, with the Stuttgarter Kammerorchester.

Paul Meyer is a very active performer of contemporary music and many concertos have been composed for him, including works by Penderecki, Jarrell, Chen, Berio, Escaich and Dusapin. Contemporary repertoire also features regularly in his performances as guest conductor. Peter Eötvös has been commissioned to write a clarinet concerto which will be premiered in 2018 during the 100th anniversary celebrations of the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande.

Paul Meyer was born in Mulhouse in 1965. He made his debut in 1982, at the very young age of 17, as laureate of the prestigious Eurovision Contest. In 1983, he was appointed principal clarinet with the Orchestre de l’Op?ra de Lyon, then with the Ensemble intercontemporain in 1984 and with the Opéra de Paris in 1985. He soon left these orchestras to begin an international career as soloist. Simultaneously his passion for conducting led him early on to study with Charles Bruck at the Pierre Monteux school in Maine, John Carewe (professor of Sir Simon Rattle and Daniel Harding, among others) with whom he worked as assistant at the Northern Junior Philharmonic, as well as assistant of Marek Janowski at the Philharmonique de Radio France and Emmanuel Krivine.

One of the leading instrumentalists of his generation, Radovan Vlatković has travelled the globe performing extensively as a soloist and popularising the horn as recording artist and teacher.

Born in Zagreb in 1962 he completed his studies with Professor Prerad Detiček at the Zagreb Academy of Music and Professor Michael Höltzel at the Music Academy in Detmold, Germany. Radovan Vlatković is the recipient of many first prizes in national and international competitions, including the Premio Ancona in 1979 and the ARD Competition in Munich in 1983 – the first to be awarded to a horn player for fourteen years. This led to numerous invitations to music festivals throughout Europe including Salzburg, Vienna, Edinburgh and Dubrovnik to name but a few, the Americas, Australia, Israel, Korea as well as regular appearances in Japan.

From 1982 until 1990 he served as Principal Horn with the Radio Symphony Orchestra Berlin (now Deutsches Symphonie Orchester) under Maestros Riccardo Chailly and Vladimir Ashkenazy. From 1992 to 1998 he held the post of Horn Professor at the Stuttgart Musikhochschule. 1998 he became Horn Professor at the renowned Mozarteum in Salzburg. Since 2000 he holds the Horn Chair “Canon” at the “Queen Sofia” School in Madrid.

Radovan Vlatković has appeared as soloist with many distinguished symphony and chamber orchestras including the Bavarian Symphony Orchestra, Stuttgart Radio Orchestra, Deutsches Symphonie Orchester, Munich Chamber Orchestra, BBC Symphony Orchestra, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, English Chamber Orchestra, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Academy of Saint Martin in the Fields, Mozarteum Orchestra, Camerata Academica Salzburg, Vienna Chamber Orchestra, Santa Cecilia Orchestra Rome, Rotterdam Philharmonie, the orchestras of Berne, Basel and Z?rich, the Lyon and Strassbourg Orchestras, NHK Orchestra, Tokyo Metropolitan and Yomiuri Orchestra, Adelaide and Melbourne Orchestras.

From 2000 – 2003 he has been Artistic Director of the September Chamber Music Festival in Maribor, Slovenia. He regularly performs with András Schiff, Heinz Holliger, Elmar Schmid and Klaus Thunemann. Very much in demand as chamber musician he has performed at Gidon Kremer’s Lockenhaus, Svyatoslav Richter’s December Evenings in Moscow, Oleg Kagan and Natalia Gutman’s Kreuth, Rudolf Serkin’s Marlboro, András Schiff’s Mondsee, Vicenza and Ittingen Festivals as well as Kuhmo, Prussia Cove and Casals Festival in Prades.

Radovan Vlatković has participated in first performances of works by Elliott Carter, Sofia Gubaidulina, Heinz Holliger and several Croatian composers who have written concertos for him. In May 2008 he premiered the Horn Concerto written for him by Krzysztof Penderecki together with the Bremen Philharmonic and the composer conducting. There were further performances in Japan, Taiwan as well as in Poland for the occasion of the composers seventy-fifth birthday. Further performances are scheduled for Germany, Spain, Italy and Croatia as well as a performance in the Berlin Philharmonic Hall with his former Orchestra, Deutsches Symphonie Orchester under Vladimir Ashkenazy. In the season 2008/09 Vlatkovic continued his activity as “artist-in-Residence” with the Verdi Orchestra in Milano.

Radovan Vlatković has received the German Critics Award for several of his discs. His numerous recordings include Mozart and Strauss Concertos with the English Chamber Orchestra and Jeffrey Tate, works by Saint-Saens with the Ensemble Orchestral de Paris and Jean-Jacques Kantorow, the Britten Serenade for tenor, horn and strings with Neil Jenkins and the Oriol Ensemble in Berlin, Concertos for two horns by Leopold Mozart and Fasch with Herrmann Baumann and Academy of Saint Martin in the Fields and Iona Brown. More recordings including chamber music have been issued by EMI, DECCA, Philips, Deutsche Grammophon, Teldec, Dabringhaus & Grimm and Denon labels.

Radovan Vlatković plays a full double horn Model 20 M by Paxman of London.

Eric Le Sage is established as one of the leading pianists of his generation and a famous representative of the French piano school, regularly boasted for his very subtle sound, his real sense of structure and poetic phrasing. Already when he was 20 years old, the Financial Times had described him as “an extremely cultivated disciple of the great French tradition of Schumann piano”. In 2010, die Zeit, praised his “ideal French piano aesthetics and clarity”

In 2010 Eric Le Sage very successfully came to the end of a project that he had cherished and prepared for a long time: recording Robert Schumann’s complete works for piano. He has been invited to perform in this context in major venues around the world. These recordings for the French label Alpha (Outhere) were awarded in the summer 2010 the very prestigious Jahrespreis der deutschen Schallplattenkritik. Reviewers from the world over have written elated comments about what is already cited as a reference in the history of Schumann recordings. Following this successful project, Eric Le Sage recorded a new series of 5 CDs dedicated to Gabriel Faur?’s complete works for chamber music with piano, all covered with awards.

Eric Le Sage has performed recitals and chamber music concerts in such major venues as Wigmore Hall, Suntory Hall, Carnegie Hall, Schwartzenberg’s Schubertiade, Ludwigsburg Festival, Frankfurt’s Alte Oper, Dublin’s celebrity series, Louisiana Museum of Arts, Cologne’s Philharmonie, Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw la Roque d’Anth?ron, Festival International de Menton, Potsdam Sanssouci, Théâtre du Châtelet, Salle Pleyel, and various venues in Germany, Italy, Spain, the United-Kingdom, South America, the United-States, Japan.

Eric is invited to perform as a soloist with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, the Saint-Louis Symphony Orchestra, the SWR Symphony Orchestra, the Bremen Philharmonic Orchestra, the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, the Gothenburg Philharmonic, the Rotterdam Philharmonic,, the NHK Symphony Orchestra, the Dresden Philharmonic, the Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse, the Netherlands Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, the Orchestre National d’Ile de France, the Orchestre Philharmonique de Liège, the Munich Chamber Orchestra, with conductors like Edo de Waart, Stéphane Denève, Louis Langrée, Michel Plasson, Michael Stern, Sir Simon Rattle…

Most of Eric Le Sage’s recordings for RCA-BMG, Naïve, EMI and now Alpha were highly acclaimed and awarded the most sought after rewards in France: Diapason d’Or de l’Année, Choc de l’Année Classica, Choc du Monde de la Musique, Grand Prix du Disque, Recording of the Month in Fono Forum and Gramophone, Victoire de la Musique.

Born in Aix en Provence, Eric Le Sage was the winner of major international competitions such as Porto in 1985 and the Robert Schumann competition in Zwickau, in 1989. He was also a prize-winner at Leeds International competition the same year, which allowed him to perform under the baton of Sir Simon Rattle.