Gervase de Peyer - Clarinet

Gervase de Peyer is known throughout the world for his brilliant concerto and recital performances. His distinctive style has done much to popularize the clarinet particularly through his extensive discography. His Concerto recordings have won The Grand Prix du Disque, Charles Gros and The Plaque of Honour of the Academy of Arts and Sciences of America. His solo performances in recitals and in Chamber Music have been awarded high honors and many remain “in print.”

Born in London into a musical family of Swiss descent, de Peyer has performed with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra under Sir Thomas Beecham and The Philharmonia Orchestra under Herbert von Karajan, Guido Cantelli, Otto Klemperer, Furtwangler and other distinguished conductors. Engagements as principal clarinetist with chamber orchestras such as the E.C.O., The London Chamber Orchestra, The London Mozart Players and many others have also kept him busy performing concertos by Finzi, Busoni, Neilsen, Seiber, Weber, as well as Mozart of course.

In 1949, The Arts Council of Great Britain supported his early national tours as a soloist leading on to the foundation of the Melos Ensemble of London. This became an outstanding concert group offering historic recorded programs planned by de Peyer that are still currently available as CDs.

It was in 1956 that Joseph Krips, Music Director of the London Symphony Orchestra, selected Gervase de Peyer as his Principal Clarinetist, an appointment he held for seventeen years until 1973. As a soloist he acquired a reputation throughout Britain and Europe. Gervase de Peyer toured as the chosen soloist with both Paul Hindermith and Aaron Copland when they conducted their own clarinet concertos, De Peyer recorded the Rhapsody for clarinet and orchestra in the series of Debussy orchestral works conducted by Boulez with The Philharmonia Orchestra for Columbia Records.

From 1969-1972, his ongoing London Symphony Orchestra position and the success of the Melos Ensemble for London overlapped part of his twenty year engagement in New York as a founding member of the Chamber Music Society of the Lincoln Center. De Peyer toured the U.S. extensively with the Chamber Music Society, including three performances on national TV in “Live From Lincoln Center.”

In 1992 Gervase De Peyer founded the Melos Sinfonia of Washington, D.C. which offers outstanding chamber music concerts in the tradition of the legendary Melos Ensemble of London at several auditoriums in Washington and Alexandria, Virginia.

In 2003-5 he has played solo recitals, chamber music and concertos in England, Italy, France, Austria, and Hungary. In September 2004, Gervase de Peyer was Chair of the International Clarinet Competition in Madeira, Portugal.

Gervase de Peyer is an Associate and a Fellow of the Royal College of Music of London. He is regularly gives master classes here, as well as at the Royal Academy of Music and at the Royal Northern School of Music in Manchester, England.