“The Magic Clarinet” – Yehudi Menuhin

Patrick Messina is well known to orchestras and audiences as one of the leading clarinetists of our times. In 2003 Patrick Messina became Principal Clarinet of the Orchestre National de France under Kurt Masur’s direction.

From 1996 to 2003, Patrick has worked with the Metropolitan Opera in New York under the baton of James Levine, Valery Gergiev, Leonard Slatkin and he is regularly invited as guest Principal clarinetist with some of the best orchestra in the world, like the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra in Amsterdam and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Kurt Masur, Bernard Haitink and others.

A frequent soloist with major orchestras, Patrick Messina has performed with the Houston Symphony Orchestra, the Orchestre National de France, the Orchestre de Cannes, the “Philharmonie der Nationen”, the Orchestre National d’Ile de France, the Orchestre de Chambre de Toulouse, the Ensemble Orchestral de Paris, the Kioi Sinfonietta (Tokyo) and the National Philharmonic Orchestra of Ukraine under the direction of Riccardo Muti, Trevor Pinnock, Bernard Haitink, Yehudi Menuhin, Tan Dun, Daniele Gatti, Sascha Goetzel, Anton Nanut, Kristjan Jarvi, Jaap Van Zweden, Sascha Goetzel, and John Axelrod.

An avid chamber music player, Messina has made regular international appearances with renowned artist such as Edita Gruberova, Chen Reiss, Daniel Hope, Bruno Giuranna, Ida Bieler, Jean-Yves Thibaudet, Fabrizio Chiovetta, Simone Dinnerstein, Nina Tichman, Katia et Marielle Labeque, Gautier Capuçon, and some of the greatest string quartets, the Philharmonia Quartett Berlin (Berlin Philharmonic), the Vogler, Parker, Diotima, Parisii, Debussy, Elysées and Fine Arts.

He has played in some of the most prestigious Festivals like: Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Gstaad, Spoleto, Schleswig-Holstein, Savannah, Mitte Europa, Pablo Casals, Istanbul, Menton, Wissembourg, Berlioz.

Patrick Messina is the recipient of numerous prizes and awards. In 1992, he became a laureate of the Yehudi Menuhin Foundation. In 1996 he won 1st Prize of the East and West International Auditions in New York and the Ima Hogg National Competition in Houston. In 1998 he was 1st prize at the Heida Hermanns International Competition.

Aged only 18, he was the first prize winner in both the chamber music and clarinet division at the

Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris.

Born in Nice, France, of Sicilian and Spanish parents, Mr. Messina began taking lessons with his father, and continued his studies with Guy Deplus, Michel Arrignon at the Paris Conservatory, Franklin Cohen at the Cleveland Institute of Music and Ricardo Morales in New York’s Mannes College.

In 2010, Patrick Messina premieres the Clarinet Concerto “Autumn Pictures” from the French-Lebanese composer Bechara El Khoury at the Chatelet Theatre with the Ensemble Orchestral de Paris, conducted by Olari Elts (CD Naxos, 2014).

Also in that same year, Patrick Messina was appointed Visiting Professor at the Royal Academy of Music in London. In 2012, Messina released his critically acclaim Mozart CD with Riccardo Muti, the Orchestre National de France and the Philharmonia Quartet Berlin (Harmonia Mundi distr.) described as ” A total success… One of the great performances of the last twenty years” (Concertonet)

“Here you can see what the fuss is about with Messina. This album announces the arrival of a major clarinet talent” (Allmusic)

Most recently, Patrick was appointed Professor at the Ecole Normale de Musique de Paris and at the IESM (Institut d’Enseignement Supérieur de la Musique) in Aix en Provence, France.