John Payne John Payne is Principal Clarinet with the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. He joined the orchestra at the age of twenty-five, following a short period with the BBC Welsh Symphony Orchestra, and was appointed Principal in 1992. During his career John has worked with the world's most renowned conductors and singers and taken part in many notable performances, including such highlights as Der Ring des Nibelungen and Die Meistersinger with Bernard Haitink, Otello and with Carlos Kleiber, and Der Rosenkavalier with Solti. John has made many recordings, most prominently a recording of Parto, Parto from La Clemenza di Tito on the Mozart Experience CD (BMG/Conifer), played on Peter Eaton Elite clarinets, and has taken part in tours to Japan, Korea, New York, Amsterdam, Rome, Paris, Finland, Germany etc. John is a founder member of the Soloists of the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, with which he has performed at the Wigmore Hall, Purcell Room and the Alice Tully Hall in New York. John is married to a professional flautist and has two young daughters, Alice and Julia. John Payne has played Peter Eaton Elite clarinets since 1994 and wrote, shortly afterwards, "I thought that I'd put in writing how much I'm enjoying these instruments now that I'm settling down on them. I'm especially pleased with the accuracy of intonation and overall pitch, which makes them very comfortable to play on in the Opera House Orchestra. The combination of this and the bigger sound I'm now getting gives me a feeling of being liberated, after fighting the limited dynamic range available on my old instruments. I am confident now that if a conductor asks for more, it is there, in reserve. The feedback from other players has been uniformly positive too, which is very gratifying. It has made for great unanimity in the section, with three of us using Peter Eaton clarinets." | |
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