Patrick Messina

In 2003, he became Principal Clarinet of the Orchestre National de France under Kurt Masur’s direction. He has since worked with some of the world’s most famous conductors, including Bernard Haitink, Daniele Gatti, Daniel Harding and Riccardo Muti.

A frequent soloist with many orchestras, Patrick has performed with the Houston Symphony Orchestra, the Orchestre National de France, the Orchestre de Cannes, the Philharmonie of the Nations, the Orchestre National d’Ile de France and the Orchestre National de Chambre de Toulouse under the direction of Sir Yehudi Menuhin, Jacques Mercier, Justus Frantz, John Axelrod and Jaap van Zweden. In 1996 he made his New York recital debut at Carnegie Hall in the Weill Recital Hall. From 1996 to 2002 he worked regularly with the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra in New York, conducted by James Levine, Carlo Rizzi, Leonard Slatkin and Valery Gergiev.

An avid chamber music player, Patrick collaborates regularly with Jean-Yves Thibaudet, Katia and Marielle Labeque, Daniel Hope, Matt Haimowitz, Jean-Marc Luisada, Gautier Capuçon, the Elysee and Debussy String Quartets and the Beaux Arts Trio. He has appeared regularly in many festivals including Les Flaneries Musicales de Reims, the Pablo Casals Festival in Prades and the Yehudi Menuhin Festival in Gstaad.

Born in Nice, France, of Sicilian and Spanish parents, Patrick began taking clarinet lessons with his father, and continued his studies with such prominent teachers as Guy Deplus, Michel Arrignon at the Paris Conservatory and Franklin Cohen at the Cleveland Institute of Music. In 1994, the Foreign Ministry of France awarded Patrick the Lavoisier Scholarship which made it possible for him to further his studies in the USA.