Olivier Patey

"Olivier Patey is a musician of endless poise and fantasy. He never fails to inspire [...] Clarinet playing and music making of the highest order!" Daniel Harding "Royal sound, endless dynamics, mind blowing phrasing, his playing is like a Mouton-Rothschild wine in a crystal glass."

Olivier fell in love with his instrument thanks to the Mozart Clarinet Concerto -which he used to listen to with small speakers under his pillow as a young boy- Olivier Patey is a passionate! And Music is the center of his life... He feels alive when performing on stage, and the more challenging it is, the better he likes it! A graduate of the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris, where he studied with Michel Arrignon, Florent Héau and Arnaud Leroy.

Olivier won some of the most prestigious international music competitions: ARD in Munich in 2003 and Carl Nielsen in Odense in 2005. Since then, he has had an international career as a soloist, playing with orchestras like the Prague Philharmonie, Bavarian Radio Orchestra, Amsterdam Sinfonietta, KwaZulu Natal Philharmonic, etc... Principal Clarinetist of the world renowned Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra in Amsterdam, Olivier got his first contract as an orchestra musician at the age of 20 in the Garde Républicaine in Paris, then hold the chair of principal clarinetist at the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, the Mahler Chamber Orchestra and used to be a member of the Lucern Festival Orchestra...

Next to his orchestra position and solo career, Olivier is a very passionate chamber musician. He's invited to play in festivals, like the Marlboro music festival in the USA, has played in the most prestigious concert halls, Wigmore Hall London, Carnegie Hall New York, Berlin Philharmonie, Concertgebouw Ams terdam, wi t h J anine Jansen, Lisa Batiashvili, Amichaï Grosz, Mitsuko Uchida, Éric Le Sage, Ébène and Modigliani quartets as chamber music partners, and has been recently very much involved in the Arties festival in India. With his friends Romain Descharmes, pianist, and Gauthier Hermann, cellist and founder of the Arties Festival, Olivier runs the CD label Arties Records distributed by Harmunia Mundi, where you can find his most recent chamber music recordings.

And when Olivier finally has some free time, you can find him on skis, playing squash, enjoying his family and friends, or playing some more music during evenings he and his wife organize at home around a table full with cheese and nice wines!