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 Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra as Principal Flute under Claudio Abbado, a position which he still holds today. In addition to his engagements with the Berlin Philharmonic, 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 Berlin Philharmonic, London Philharmonic, Zurich Tonhalle, Bayerischer Rundfunk, Mariinski, Camerata Salzburg, Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie, Cincinnati Symphony and Washington National Symphony, NHK Symphony, and Scottish Chamber orchestras. He has collaborated with conductors such as Abbado, Rattle, Zinman, Maazel, Boulez, Gergiev, Gardiner, Harding, Järvi, Nezet-Séguin, Rostropovich and Perlman.

In the 2011-12 season, Emmanuel performs with the Berliner Philharmoniker, Tonkuenstler Orchestra, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Orquesta Sinfonica de Castilla y Leon, Macau Orchestra, Orchestre National de Bordeaux, Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte Carlo, Berne Symphony Orchestra, Franz Liszt Chamber Orchestra and the Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra. He tours with the Kammerorchester Basel and the Kammerakademie Potsdam.

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 2011-12 Emmanuel performs throughout Europe with Yefim Bronfman, including London’s Wigmore Hall. He performs chamber music at summer festivals including Dubrovnik, Torroella and Rheingau. 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 celebrate their 20th 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 including several TV-Victoires de la Musique, Diapason d'Or, Radio France's ‘Recording of the Year’, Fono-Forum and TV-Echo awards in Germany, ‘Record Geijutsu’ and ‘Ongaku no Tomo’ award from Japan. His most recent recording dedicated to Flute Music at Frederick the Great’s court with Trevor Pinnock was released at the end of 2011.

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.

Last updated January 2012. Contact Opus 3 Artists for the most up-to-date version.