Paolo Beltramini

Principal Clarinet and soloist of the Orchestra della Svizzera Italiana (RSI), he is currently the only Italian clarinettist who has ever won the first prize in prestigious Prague Spring International Music Competition. He was the 1996 winner and also earned the special "Buffet Crampon" and "Prague Spring Foundation" awards. In a duo with the pianist Roberto Arosio he won Second Prize at the 1996 International Chamber Music Competition in Paris, and the First Prize and Special Press Award at the International Chamber Music Competition in Trapani in 1997. These accomplishments represent the crowning achievements of a long series of prizes and honours garnered in important national and international competitions. The more than twenty competitions won have brought Paolo Beltramini public and critical acclaim as one of the most interesting contemporary woodwind virtuosos on the international music scene.

Paolo Beltramini studied at the Civica Scuola di Milano and obtained his diploma with brilliant results at the Giuseppe Verdi Conservatory in Milan when he was just eighteen. He pursued further musical studies with Giuseppe Garbarino and Alain Meunier at the Accademia Musicale Chigiana in Siena where he earned the Diploma d'Onore and was awarded the Premio SIAE in 1987. A study grant from the European Communuty enabled him to complete postgraduate work under the guidance of Walter Boeykens, Thomas Friedli, and Maurice Bourge at the Scuola di Alto Perfezionamento Musicale in Saluzzo.

A refined performer of the entire clarinet repertoire, he has been a guest of prestigious concert associations and has performed in the most important concert halls in Europe, Asia, Africa, the United States, and South America: Lincoln Centre in New York, the Olympus Festival in St. Petersburg, Izumi Hall in Osaka, Bunkamura Centre in Tokyo, Victoria Hall in Singapore, the Teatro Coliseo in Buenos Aires, the Accademia di Santa Cecilia in Rome, the Teatro alla Scala, the Sala Verdi, Musica nel Nostro Tempo, and Nuove Sincronie in Milan, Festival de Radio France in Montpellier, Beethoven Haus in Bonn, Festival Presences in Paris, Féte de la Musique de Paris, Musica Festival di Strasburgo, Wien Modern Festival and Musikverein in Vienna, Tonhalle in Zurich, the Biennale di Zagreb, the Venice Biennale, Nuova Consonanza in Roma, the Società dei Concerti di Trieste, Spazionovecento in Cremona, Sala Chigi Saracini in Siena, and many others.

He has repeatedly performed concerts by Mozart, Mercadante, Rossini, and Weber with various associations including the Mantua Chamber Orchestra, the Camerata St. Petersburg, Kurpfalzisches Kammerorchester Mannheim, the Prague Symphony Chamber Orchestra, I Virtuosi di Aquileia, and La Piccola Sinfonica di Milano. A refined performer of twentieth century music, has premiered numerous works including Luca Francescani's Trama II for clarinet and orchestra with the Osnabruker Synphonieorchester, and Davide Anzaghi's Concerto Breve for clarinet and strings with the Orchestra Cantelli at the Sala Verdi in Milan. He also collaborates with the Stamic, Prometeo, and Gaudeamus string quartets.

As Principal Clarinettist he has performed with La Filarmonica della Scala, the RAI National Symphony Orchestras of Turin and Milan, the Orchestra dell'Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome, the Mahler Chamber Orchestra, the Mantua Chamber Orchestra, the Orchestra Filarmonica del Teatro Verdi di Trieste, the Orchestra da Camera Italiana, the Orchestra del Teatro Comunale di Bologna, the Filarmonica Arturo Toscanini in Parma, the Orchestra dell'Opera di Genova, the Orchestra Filarmonica di Udine, I Virtuosi di Aquileia, the Turin Philharmonic Orchestra, I Pomeriggi Musicali in Milan, the Orchestra Stabile di Bergamo, and many others.

He has recorded on Chandos, Ricordi, Fonit Cetra, Stradivarius, AS Disc, and RS labels and his performances have been broadcast over many European radio and TV networks including RAI, Radio France, BBC, Czech radio, R.T.L., and S.O.D.R.E. He is regularly invited to adjudicate international and national competitions.

He has held international master classes in Italy and France: Badia Prataglia, Coldinava, Tarquinia, the Centro Culturale Asteria in Milan, the International Summer Academy at the Moulin d'Andé, the Conservatoire Rameau de Paris, and the Jacopo Tomadini Conservatory of Music in Udine. He currently holds the Chair of Clarinet at the Conservatorio Giuseppe Nicolini di Piacenza.