Patrick Messina

“THE MAGIC CLARINET!!”

-Yehudi Menuhin

“ SIMPLICITY MADE SOLOIST’S PERFORMANCE A GEM .

...an engaging soloist...he made the plainest music the most beguiling...his playing

certainly had technical polish...his high range had almost none of the shrillness that so

many clarinetists find hard to eliminate from their sound. With that quality,

Messina capped melodies with grand but caressed arches of sound."

-Houston Chronicle

"The young Patrick Messina was amazing in the Mozart Clarinet Concerto...

The clarinetist of tomorrow! “

-Paris Normandie

"...he gets full range of expressive possibilities from the instrument...Debussy opened out

in magical way from the beginning and always kept sense of freedom in sinuous line...

he shows real virtuosic flair."

-New York Post

Born in France, of Sicilian parents, Patrick Messina is currently the assistant principal clarinetist of the Orchestre National de France (dir: Kurt Masur). He made his US orchestral debut in 1996 performing the Debussy Rhapsodie and Rossini Variations with the Houston Symphony Orchestra in Jones Hall. In that same year he made his New York debut in the Weill Recital Hall in Carnegie Hall as winner of the East and West Artists International Auditions. In Europe, he has soloed with numerous orchestras including the Orchestre National d’Iles de France, National Chamber Orchestra of Toulouse, the Ensemble Bell'Arte, the Budapest Academy Orchestra, the Orchestra Bohemia of Prague in Smetana Hall, the National Chamber Orchestra of Lyon, and the Ensemble Orchestral de Haute Normandie. He has worked with famous conductors, such as Sir Yehudi Menuhin, Jacques Mercier, Jean-Pierre Berlingen, Stephen Stein, and others.

Alongside his solo career, Messina collaborates regularly with Bruno Giuranna, Daniel Hope, Jean-Marc Luisada, Jacques Rouvier, Philippe Muller, Bruno Rigutto and Yehudi Menuhin.

Mr. Messina is the recipient of numerous prizes and awards. He has captured top prizes at the Buffet Crampon International Competition in Paris, the Lion's Club International Competition, was the youngest member (age 14) to be selected in the World Youth Orchestra, under the baton of Witold Rowicki, the Orchestre Francais des Jeunes (direction, Emmanuel Krivine) and was a laureate of the Yehudi Menuhin Foundation.

At the prestigious Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris, he was, at only 18, the first prize winner in both the chamber music and clarinet division. In the US, Mr. Messina won the first prize of the Houston Ima Hogg National Young Artist Competition and the Heida Hermanns International Young Artist Competition.

Mr. Messina began clarinet lessons with his father and Claude Crousier at the Nice Regional Conservatory and continued to study with prominent teachers including Guy Deplus, Michel Arrignon and Franklin Cohen.

His studies in America were made possible by the Lavoisier Scholarship, awarded by the Foreign Ministry of France.

Since 1996 Patrick Messina has worked regularly with the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and conductors James Levine, Valery Gergiev and Leonard Slatkin. He participated in many festivals in Europe, including “Les Flaneries Musicales de Reims”, “Les nuits musicales du Chateau de Lourmarin”, Fesival International de Meymac, «  Les Jeux Floraux de Marseillan », The Cagliari International Music Academy and The Budapest Spring Festival.

Upcoming solo engagements in France include performances at the Theatre des Champs Elysees, Amphitheater of the Sorbonne, Radio France and the Paris Opera.

exquisite music - superbly performed