Emmanuel Pahud

The Swiss-and-French flautist Emmanuel Pahud is one of today's most exciting and adventurous musicians. Born in Geneva, he began studying music at the age of six. He graduated in 1990 with the Premier Prix from the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris, after which he continued his studies with Aurele Nicolet. At the age of 22 Emmanuel joined the Berliner Philharmoniker as Principal Flute under Claudio Abbado, a position which he still holds today. In addition to his engagements with the Berliner Philharmoniker, Emmanuel enjoys an extensive international career as soloist and chamber musician.

Emmanuel appears regularly at leading festivals throughout Europe, the USA and the Far East. He has appeared as soloist with many of the world's leading orchestras including the London Philharmonic, Zurich Tonhalle, Bayerischer Rundfunk, Mariinski, Camerata Salzburg, Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, Cincinnati Symphony, Washington National Symphony, NHK Symphony and the Scottish Chamber Orchestra. He has collaborated with conductors such as Abbado, Rattle, Zinman, Maazel, Boulez, Gergiev, Gardiner, Harding, Järvi, Nezet-Séguin, Rostropovich and Perlman. 

In the 2012-13 season, Emmanuel performs with the Berliner Philharmoniker, the Kammerakademie Potsdam, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte Carlo, Netherlands Radio Chamber Philharmonic and the Guerzenich Orchester. He tours with the Franz Liszt Chamber Orchestra in Europe and South America and with Les Violons du Roy in the US.

He is a dedicated chamber musician and regularly gives recital tours with pianists such as Eric Le Sage, Yefim Bronfman and Hélène Grimaud, as well as jazzing with Jacky Terrasson.  In 2012-13 Emmanuel performs throughout Europe with various chamber music partners, including his group ‘Les Vents Français’. In 1993, Emmanuel founded the Summer Chamber Music Festival ‘Musique à l’Empéri’ together with Eric Le Sage and Paul Meyer in Salon de Provence. They have just celebrated their 20^th Festival in the summer of 2012. 

Emmanuel has won first prize in many major International Music Competitions, such as Kobe in 1989, Duino in 1988, and the Concours de Genève in 1992. He took the Soloists Prize in the World-wide French-speaking Community Radio Awards, and the European Council's Juventus Prize.  He is also a laureate of the Yehudi Menuhin Foundation and of the International Tribune for Musicians of UNESCO. In 1997 he was named ‘Instrumentalist of the Year’ at the prestigious Victoires de la Musique award ceremony in Paris. 

In 1996 Emmanuel signed an exclusive contract with EMI Classics, a collaboration which has proven to be one of the most significant contributions to recorded flute music. He has made more than 20 recordings which have received unanimous critical acclaim and have been showered with awards. His recent recording dedicated to Flute Music at Frederick the Great’s court with Trevor Pinnock was released at the end of 2011 and received Classica Magazine Choc of the Year 2012 and was nominated at the TV Awards Victoires de la Musique 2013. His CD ‘Best of Quintet music’ (Japan) won the Record Academy Award for chamber music 2012 and the Record Geijutsu magazine, Japan.

His latest release is dedicated to the complete works for Flute by Frank Martin and has been just released by Musiques Suisses, it was immediately awarded the March 2013 "Diapason d'Or", France.

In June 2009 Emmanuel was honoured to Chevalier dans l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres for his contribution to music and in April 2011 awarded an HonRAM by the Royal Academy of Music. He also is an Embassador for Unicef.