GERVASE de PEYER

Clarinet; Conductor

Representing the continuation of a tradition of virtuoso clarinet playing which dates back to Anton Stadler (for whom Mozart wrote his "Kegelstatt" Trio, Clarinet Quintet and Clarinet Concerto), Gervase de Peyer has enjoyed a most distinguished career which has spanned some fifty years, and is demonstrably the foremost exponent of the Clarinet, and one of the finest musicians alive today.  He performs and teaches World-wide, and has given the premières of many works for his instrument (solo, chamber and orchestral), the most recent of which was the monumental "Concerto for Clarinet" by Edwin Roxburgh, heard at the 1996 Three Choirs Festival in Worcester Cathedral (BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by the Composer).

Gervase de Peyer's concerto repertoire is extensive, and also includes examples of the genre by Cooke, Copland, Finzi, Hindemith, Hoddinott, Horovitz, Mathias, Mozart, Musgrave, Nielsen, Seiber, Spohr and Weber.  Gervase de Peyer was appointed as Principal Clarinet of the London Symphony Orchestra in 1956 (and became Director of the LSO Wind Ensemble).  Gervase de Peyer was a member, for twenty years from its foundation in 1969, of the Chamber Music Society of the Lincoln Center, New York.  He has been associated with many of the foremost chamber musicians over the years, including Daniel Barenboim, Yehudi Menuhin, Itzhak Perlman, Gwenneth Pryor (his highly-accomplished duo pianist for over thirty years), Mstislav Rostropovitch, the Amadeus String Quartet, the Ensemble Amadeus and the Melos Ensemble of London (which he co-founded in 1951), and continues to appear with many of the World's foremost orchestras.

Dividing his time between homes in London and near Washington D.C., Gervase de Peyer's recent appearances in the UK have included a prestigious charity gala concert with the Melos Ensemble of London, at Fishmongers' Hall (close by London Bridge), appearances with the Mandelring String Quartet, including the Berthold Goldschmidt Memorial Concert at the Wigmore Hall - performing the Clarinet Quartet which Goldschmidt wrote at his request - and at Stationers' Hall in the City of London (to perform the Brahms Clarinet Quintet).  The "Summer Music at Ayton" chamber music festival at Ayton Castle (near Eyemouth) - and its successor, the Paxton House Festival - has taken Gervase de Peyer to Scotland on several occasions to undertake residencies there (performing with the Hungarian pianist Gusztáv Fenyö, the Alexander String Quartet and Edinburgh String Quartet plus other eminent musicians).

Other engagements have included conducting and concerto dates in Turkey, chamber recitals in the auditorium of the World Bank headquarters in Washington D.C., plus further concerts with his "Melos Sinfonia" (also in Washington D.C.).  Recent London appearances have included a triumphant return to the Wigmore Hall on July 14th 1999, plus a recital at The Warehouse (home of the London Festival Orchestra), in a programme which also involved Gwenneth Pryor (piano) and Raphael Wallfisch ('cello). A further recital was given with Gwenneth Pryor and the Alexander String Quartet at the Clarinet Congress (hosted by the Royal College of Music) and a stunning performance of Bartók's "Contrasts" was delivered at St. John's Smith Square as part of the London Festival of Jewish Music 2000.

Gervase de Peyer's eightieth birthday celebratory concert was given in London's Wigmore Hall on the Fourth of April 2006.  The programme, which included works by Mendelssohn, Schumann, Horovitz, Ponchielli, Bliss, Bartók and Schubert involved the participation of a number of both long-standing and younger musical friends and reflected the considerable scope of his musical abilities in chamber and solo works.  His recent British appearances have also included chamber recitals at the Colchester Institute and at the Silk Hall in Radley, Oxfordshire, plus a performance of the Mozart concerto with the Hull Philharmonic Orchestra.  Recent performances in the U.S.A. have included the Mozart and Bliss Quintets with the Baltimore - based Cueto String Quartet (see Washington Post notice of September 25th 2001 below), while several concerts in Scotland with the Edinburgh String Quartet have been given during the latter part of 2001 (including one at the Queen's Hall in Edinburgh).

Gervase de Peyer is now the World's most-recorded clarinettist (and continues to record enthusiastically and prolifically).  Recent Compact Disc releases include a ground-breaking performing partnership (under the title of Illuminations) with his son, Mervin, who is well-known for his work as a recording producer.

Gervase de Peyer has, for many years, played wide-bore clarinets made in England by Peter Eaton of Effingham, Surrey, although he has acquired recently through T.W. Howarth & Company Limited of London a pair of instruments made in Santiago, Chile, by
Luis Rossi.

Further information about Gervase de Peyer is now available from his personal website.

"The familiar artisty was all there in this performance:  phrasing like that of the human voice, but with a power, agility and range beyond any singer's capability;  technique that treats the music as though it were happening spontaneously for the first time; an acute awareness of overall form;  and a tone like a voice coming down from Heaven - voices, actually, because the clarinet has more than one".
(Joe McLellan, classical music critic emeritus of THE WASHINGTON POST, Washington D.C.)

"Mr. de Peyer is now the greatest clarinettist appearing before the public.  His playing was so beautiful, his tone so seamless and his musical instincts so unerring that everything else last night palled in comparison".
(London Mozart Players' twenty-fifth anniversary concert) (THE TIMES, London).

"Extraordinary and magical...vivid characterisation and seamless technique".
(CLARINET & SAXOPHONE SOCIETY JOURNAL, London).

"De Peyer's melodic lead was always precise ... it was musicianship of a very high order".
(Alan Greenblatt - THE WASHINGTON POST, Washington D.C.).

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