Emmanuel Pahud

Pahud describes his versatility over the years in music, as transforming himself into a chameleon who tries to match the colour of the music, or the idea he has of it, to what the composer had in mind. But his discography and career have also been built on encounters—both professionally and in human relationships. He expresses in playing like a chameleon, "I try to change style, colour and phrasing, the way I breathe and articulate to suit the piece I am playing. I do not represent any particular national style." Pahud seems himself as a performer/actor rather than a composer/creator. For the Dalbavie Record (2008) Pahud dedicated himself to commissioning new works and to new flute concertos, performing them for the first time on stage. Three composers were selected: Marc-André Dalbavie (French), Michael Jarrell (Swiss), and Matthias Pintscher (German) reflecting Pahud as a French and Swiss citizen living in Germany for over 15 years. Whilst working with German Composer, Matthias Pintscher, Pahud sought to explore a new level and style of playing the flute. 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."

I like to work for the mic – it brings a certain close-up on your playing. You have to take care of lots of things that you do not necessarily have to take care of when you are performing in a live concert hall. You don't have the emotional or the visual support, and you have to be exciting nevertheless. So at the same time you have to take greater care of the detail and bring a greater intensity to the music.

In March 2008 Pahud performed the World Première of another work commissioned by Frank Michael Beyer, who composed Meridian, a Concerto for Flute & String Ensemble. Other World Premières include music composed by Elliott Carter: Concerto for Flute & Ensemble, which Pahud premièred in September 2008 in Jerusalem. It was joint commissioned by the BPO, Jerusalem International Chamber Music Festival and Boston Symphony Orchestra. Pahud will World Première the Flute Concerto by Luca Lombardi in 2010, commissioned by the Kansas City Symphony.

The Berlin Philharmonic these days considers themselves a very individualist and soloistic "large ensemble." In 2007, Pahud was voted onto the Media Vorstand (or the Member of the Media Board) of the BPO. He shares the principal flute position with Mathieu Dufour.

Pahud's debut into the world of jazz came through meeting and collaborating with jazz pianist Jacky Terrasson. He admires and derives inspiration from jazz flutists such as: James Newton, James Moody (saxophonist) (also a flute player), Herbie Mann, and Jeremy Steig. He has explored jazz further through performing big band music with friends and colleagues from the Berlin Philharmonic and local jazz musicians. Other examples of his vast interests in innovative musical genres include so-called "one-time projects" (as Pahud calls them); most recently in 2006, it included a collaboration project with the NHK Symphony Orchestra of a recorded original soundtrack for the NHK Taiga series Komyo ga Tsuji (Jp: 功名が辻).

Pahud at 22 was the youngest player in the Berlin Philharmonic, a position to which he returned in 2002 under Sir Simon Rattle after taking an 18-month sabbatical in 2000 in order to teach the Virtuosity Class at the Conservatoire de Musique de Genève for one year and to perform in concerts worldwide. He was surprised on how emotional it was to leave the BPO. He recalls his emotions beginning a couple of hours before playing his last concert and only leaving him once he rejoined BPO in 2002. The versatility and authority of current conductor Sir Simon Rattle, says Pahud, gives the orchestra a unique working partnership and a capacity to be more adventurous in its exploration of repertoire. He also sees Rattle as an intellect; "he knows the orchestra and he achieves what he wants by taking into account the vision of the musicians. In addition, Pahud also observed that whilst the former conductor Herbert von Karajan "produced a big string sound with a great legato. The Rattle sound is a very transparent and constructed sound, with much more articulation to achieve definition in the sound." In baroque and classical music, this represents the influence of period performance.

Pahud is also a dedicated chamber musician and has recently made international appearances throughout Europe, North America and Japan in recital with pianists Éric Le Sage and Stephen Kovacevich as well as in a flute and string quartet formation with Christoph Poppen (violin), Hariolf Schichtig (viola) and Jean-Guihen Queyras (cello) with whom he recorded his 1999 record Mozart Flute Quartets. In 1993, he co-founded Le festival de l'Empéri in Salon-de-Provence, France, along with his regular chamber music partners pianist Éric Le Sage (close friend and confidant) and Paul Meyer. In a French interview, Pahud describes the success of the festival as a project "filled with enthusiasm and fun" where the public has "recognised our work, our fellow artists, musicians and actors and have the desire to come back regularly." He also describes the festival as a "musical laboratory" which avoids the programming of works that the public are used to hearing in concert halls. It is about "daring to combine performers, works (music), create new collaborations and by taking risks. Pahud has made several recordings and performed internationally with pianist Éric Le Sage throughout his career. In 2008 he performed for the first time at the Jerusalem International Chamber Music Festival, where he played in the world premier of Elliott Carter's Flute Concerto, conducted by Daniel Barenboim. He returned to the Festival on 2009 to play in a series of concerts.

In 1996 he signed an exclusive contract with EMI Classics, the only flutist in the world to have a solo recording contract with a major record company. Pahud promises to be one of the most significant contributors to the catalogue of recorded flute music today. Nowadays much of his time is taken up with recording. He extended his contract with EMI for a further six years. Recording adds a welcome diversity to Pahud's schedule:

In 1993, Pahud began accepting international concert performances soon after settling into his position in Berlin. He has appeared as soloist with internationally renowned orchestras in addition to the Berlin Philharmonic: the Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra, the London Symphony Orchestra, the Tonhalle Orchester Zürich, the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, the Geneva Camerata the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra, and the Danish Radio Symphony also known as the Danish National Symphony Orchestra. He also appears regularly at leading festivals throughout Europe, the United States and the Far East. His more famous international concerto appearances and collaborations of the past few seasons (2005–2008) included the Berlin Philharmonic, the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, the London Philharmonic Orchestra, the Monte-Carlo Philharmonic Orchestra, the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, the NHK Symphony Orchestra, the Berliner Barock-Solisten, the Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Orchestre National de Belgique, the Orchestre philharmonique de Radio France and a U.S. tour with the Barcelona Symphony and Catalonia National Orchestra (including a Carnegie Hall debut). Another famous concerto collaboration took place in 2005–2006 with the Australian Chamber Orchestra in reviving the Vivaldi Flute Concertos.

Pahud was born into a nonmusical family. As a young boy living in Italy, Pahud was captivated by the sounds of the flute. From the age of four to the age of 22, he was tutored and mentored by flutists such as François Binet, Carlos Bruneel and Aurèle Nicolet. Classically trained at the Conservatoire de Paris, he leapt into the international orchestral and solo music scene when he joined the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra in 1992. His versatility in music styles over the years has "signalled the arrival of a new master flautist" (The Guardian). He plays in diverse music genres, whether baroque, jazz, contemporary, classical, orchestral, or chamber music.

Pahud's workload has more than tripled since the early days of his international career in 1992. At that time he was doing about 50 concerts a year – but with the success of his solo career and continued involvement with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, that number has spiralled to around 160: 90 solo or chamber music and 75 orchestral concerts in an average year – roughly twice the number of performances that most musicians would consider a heavy work-load. Pahud says that it's a balance he has had all his life and what prevents him from being isolated in one genre or repertoire of music, or what he calls "a musical corner".

Pahud's first flute was a silver-plated Yamaha. His parents later bought him two Muramatsu Flutes, one half hand-made and the other fully hand-made. Pahud previously played on a 14-karat golden flute which he bought from Brannen Brothers in Boston, Massachusetts in 1989 with money he won from competitions. Two weeks later he bought a head joint (the part into which the player blows) from Dana Sheridan, another Boston flute manufacturer. Pahud chose the Brannen flute body because it is one of the only flute makers that produce a decent Cooper scale, based on the scales developed by Albert Cooper. He describes his instrument:

Pahud now plays a solid 14K Haynes flute with a pinless mechanism, having previously played a solid 14K Brannen-Cooper flute with a Sheridan head joint from 1989-2012.

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 Lardé. 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. He attributes 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.

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 to 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.

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 one 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. The Swiss-French Binet family, whose four children played musical instruments, lived in the same apartment building in Rome. 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 Mozart's Flute Concerto No. 1, it set the course to a remarkable chapter of Pahud's life. He recalls:

Emmanuel Pahud (born 27 January 1970) is a Franco-Swiss flute player.

Being appointed as principal flutist at the BPO signalled Pahud's entrance into the international spotlight. He entered the orchestra during its rejuvenation period as the post-war generation of players began to retire. Over 40%, including Pahud's position was up for audition, or on trial. His predecessor was Karlheinz Zöller (1960–69, 1976–93). Apart from Pahud, other previous international flutists held the same principal flutist position such as Aurèle Nicolet (1950–59) and Sir James Galway (1969–75). As many international musicians filled these positions, Pahud found the BPO generating a unique sound experience unlike anywhere else: