Pierre Génisson

Born in 1986 in Marseille into a family of musicians, clarinettist Pierre Génisson trained between Marseille, Rueil‑Malmaison and Paris. He belongs to the tradition of the French school of winds while broadening it to encompass varied repertoires from classical music to swing jazz. He began the clarinet at the city conservatory, studied with Florent Héau and in 2005 entered the Conservatoire national supérieur de musique et de danse de Paris, where in 2009 he was awarded two first prizes unanimously in clarinet and chamber music. Pierre Génisson continued his studies at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles with Yehuda Gilad and obtained an Artist Diploma, a prelude to his solo debut at the Berlin Philharmonie at age 24. A laureate of the Concours international Carl Nielsen and winner of the 2014 Jacques Lancelot International Clarinet Competition in Yokosuka, he received a prize in 2018 from the Fondation Simone et Cino Del Duca under the aegis of the Institut de France. His solo career has led him to perform with orchestras such as the Deutsches Symphonie‑Orchester Berlin, the Tokyo Philharmonic, BBC ensembles, the Orchestre Métropolitain de Montréal and the Insula orchestra, and he regularly appears in chamber music with various string quartets. Comfortable on both modern and historical instruments, he devotes a significant part of his work to contemporary French music and collaborates with composers including Tristan Murail, Thierry Escaich, Eric Montalbetti, Karol Beffa and Eric Tanguy. His discography includes Made in France (2013) with pianist David Bismuth, How I Met Mozart (2016), the album Swing, a Benny Goodman Story (2020) reflecting his taste for classic jazz, and Mozart 1791 recorded with Concerto Köln (2023) as part of his exclusive contract with Warner Classics / Erato. Since 2020 he has been the artistic director of the Les Nuits musicales de Fontfroide festival near Narbonne; he teaches clarinet at the École normale de musique de Paris Alfred Cortot and gives masterclasses in many countries.