Sabine Meyer

{{short description|German clarinetist (born 1959)}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2020}}

{{Infobox musical artist

| honorific_prefix =

| name = Sabine Meyer

| honorific_suffix =

| image = Sabine Meyer 3w.jpg

| image_upright = 1.2

| alt =

| caption = Photo 2019

| background = non_vocal_instrumentalist

| native_name =

| native_name_lang =

| birth_name =

| alias =

| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1959|03|30}}

| birth_place = Crailsheim, Germany

| death_date =

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| genre = Classical music, contemporary music

| occupation = Solo clarinetist and Professor for Clarinet

| instrument = Clarinet (German system)

| years_active = 1983–present

| label = EMI Classics, Warner Classis, Avi-music, Deutsche Grammophon

| associated_acts = {{plainlist|

}}

| website = {{url|http://www.sabine-meyer.com}}

| module = Teachers while studying:
Otto Hermann, Stuttgart and Hans Deinzer, Hannover

Well-known former students
Shirley Brill (Israel), Annelien Van Wauwe (Belgium)

Performances per year:
approximately 60

| module2 = Awards:
ECHO Klassik Prize, eight-time winner, Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany, Cross of Merit 1st Class, Order of Merit of Baden-Württemberg, several art and music awards

Discography/Streaming:
numerous CDs, one DVD, several YouTube Videos, sound recordings also on Spotify and Deezer

Agent:
Konzertdirektion Hans Ulrich Schmid, Hannover

| module3 = Personal / Private

Spouse, children:
Reiner Wehle, Clarinetist and Professor;
2 children

Hobbies:
riding and horse breeding

Residence:
Lübeck, {{DEU}}}}

Sabine Meyer (born 30 March 1959){{cite web |last=Kunz |first=Roland |date=28 March 2019 |title=Die Klarinettistin Sabine Meyer wird 60 |url=https://www.swr.de/swr2/programm/portrait-der-klarinettistin-sabine-meyer-zum-60-geburtstag,article-swr-12642.html |work=swr.de |publisher=Südwestrundfunk |location=Stuttgart |language=de |access-date=9 December 2019}} is a German classical clarinetist.

Biography

Born in Crailsheim, Baden-Württemberg, Meyer began playing the clarinet at an early age. Her first teacher was her father, also a clarinetist. She studied with Otto Hermann in Stuttgart and then with Hans Deinzer at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater Hannover, along with her brother, clarinetist Wolfgang Meyer, and husband, clarinetist Reiner Wehle, who played later in the Munich Philharmonic.{{cite news |last=Hannemann |first=Matthias |date=29 May 2007 |title=Solo für Klarinette |url=https://www.faz.net/aktuell/karriere-hochschule/mein-weg/sabine-meyer-solo-fuer-klarinette-1435735-p2.html |work=Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung |location=Frankfurt |language=de |access-date=9 December 2019}} She began her career as a member of the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra and the Berlin Philharmonic, where her appointment as one of the orchestra's first female members caused controversy.{{cite news |last=UPI |date=8 January 1983 |title=Karajan and orchestra clash over clarinetist |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1983/01/08/arts/karajan-and-orchestra-clash-over-clarinetist.html |work=The New York Times |location=New York City |access-date=9 December 2019}} Herbert von Karajan, the orchestra's music director, hired Meyer in September 1982, but the players voted against her at the conclusion of her probation period by a vote of 73 to 4.{{cite news |date=10 January 1983 |title=Schlag ins Konto |url=https://www.spiegel.de/spiegel/print/d-14020130.html |work=Der Spiegel |location=Hamburg |language=de |access-date=9 December 2019}} The orchestra insisted the reason was that her tone did not blend with the other members of the section, but some observers, including Karajan, believed that the true reason was her gender. In 1983, after nine months, Meyer left the orchestra to become a full-time solo clarinetist.{{cite web |last=Schwarz |first=Elisabeth |date=28 May 2018 |title="Daneben verblasst erstmal alles": Sabine Meyer über Mozarts Bassettklarinettenkonzert |url=https://bachtrack.com/de_DE/interview-sabine-meyer-clarinet-mozart-may-2018 |work=bachtrack.com |publisher=Bachtrack Ltd. |access-date=9 December 2019}}

In addition to her work as a soloist, and a band member in general, Sabine Meyer is a committed player of chamber music and plays all styles of classical music. She was a member of the Trio di Clarone along with her brother and her husband who have recorded many CDs.{{cite news |last=Zimmerlin |first=Alfred |date=4 October 2013 |title=Avantgarde der Romantik |url=https://www.nzz.ch/feuilleton/buehne/avantgarde-der-romantik-1.18161163 |work=Neue Zürcher Zeitung |location=Zürch |language=de |access-date=9 December 2019}}{{cite news |last=Obiera |first=Pedro |date=7 March 2017 |title=Kammermusik voller Poesie und Leidenschaft |url=https://www.waz.de/staedte/duisburg/kammermusik-voller-poesie-und-leidenschaft-id209852113.html |work=Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung |location=Essen |language=de |access-date=9 December 2019}} Meyer and her wind quintet have worked as members of the Lucerne Festival Orchestra with Claudio Abbado.{{cite news | url=http://music.guardian.co.uk/proms2007/story/0,,2153754,00.html | title=The maestro | newspaper=The Guardian | last=Service | first=Tom | author-link=Tom Service | date=22 August 2007 | accessdate=20 June 2008}}

By the 1990s, Meyer had become a prominent solo clarinetist, recording regularly and exclusively for the EMI label.{{cite news | url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2007/sep/07/classicalmusicandopera.shopping | title=Nielsen: Flute Concerto; Clarinet Concerto; Wind Quintet, Pahud/ Meyer/ Berlin Philharmoniker/ Rattle | work=The Guardian | author=Andrew Clements | date=2007-09-06 | accessdate=2020-10-18}} These EMI recordings include a CD of French music for Clarinet and Piano with Oleg Maisenberg, entitled French Recital. A disc of clarinet concertos by Ludwig Spohr and Franz Krommer was released in July 2007, for which she collaborated with her student Julian Bliss.

From 1993 to the winter semester 2019/2020 she shared with her husband a professorship at Musikhochschule Lübeck, in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. Her husband's successor is his former student Jens Thoben. She was professor until October 2022. Sabine Meyer will continue her concert and chamber music activities. However, after more than forty years as a soloist and chamber musician, she plans to say goodbye to her audience in the course of 2025.[https://www.schoneberg.de/fileadmin/user_upload/abonnements/Klassik_Bielefeld_Saison_24_25.pdf Sabine Meyer, Time to Say Goodbye (6th image)]

Her clarinet students have also included Shirley Brill, Annelien Van Wauwe, Sebastian Manz, Taira Kaneko and Han Kim.

Meyer and her husband have two adult children and live in Lübeck.

Instruments

File:3 cl sm.jpg

Sabine Meyer plays the clarinet and basset clarinet in B{{music|flat}} and A, as well as a basset horn in F, all made of grenadilla by Herbert Wurlitzer, and clarinets in B{{music|flat}} and in A made of boxwood, manufactured by Schwenk & Seggelke (now: Seggelke Klarinetten), which she mainly uses in chamber music. In 1984, Meyer commissioned Wurlitzer to build a basset clarinet (in A) for her, not a historical replica but a modern, hitherto only occasionally, built instrument. Since then, she has been playing the clarinet concerto by Mozart (and his clarinet quintet) in a reconstructed version.

Awards

  • 1996 Niedersachsenpreis for culture{{cite web | title=Niedersächsischer Staatspreis | website=Portal Niedersachsen | date=15 September 2021 | url=https://www.niedersachsen.de/startseite/land_leute/die_menschen/sehr_geehrte_niedersachsen/der-niedersaechsische-staatspreis-20065.html | language=de | access-date=27 February 2022}}
  • 1997 Member of the Free Academy of the Arts Hamburg{{cite web | title=Sabine Meyer | website=Salzburger Festspiele | url=https://www.salzburgerfestspiele.at/a/sabine-meyer | language=de | access-date=27 February 2022}}
  • 2001 Brahms Prize by the Brahms Society Schleswig-Holstein{{cite web|title=Past winners|publisher=Website of the Brahms Society Schleswig-Holstein|url=https://brahms-sh.de/preistrager/|access-date=16 May 2019}}
  • 2004 Art Award of the Federal State of Schleswig-Holstein{{cite web | title=Kunst aus dem Norden für den Norden | website=Landesportal Schleswig-Holstein | date=18 June 2021 | url=http://www.schleswig-holstein.de/DE/Fachinhalte/P/preiseWettbewerbe/kunstpreis_SH.html?nn=80cfdf51-1a24-4512-a0d7-d9cd524787ae | language=de | access-date=27 February 2022}}
  • 2008 French order Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres[https://www.reservix.de/tickets-sabine-meyer/t10212 Reservix, Sabine Meyer]
  • 2010 Order of Merit of Baden-Württemberg{{cite web|last=Staatsministerium Baden-Württemberg|title=Verdienstorden des Landes Baden-Württemberg Liste der Ordensträger 1975 – 2018|url=https://stm.baden-wuerttemberg.de/fileadmin/redaktion/dateien/PDF/180428_Liste_Verdienstorden_B-W_alle_Ordenstraeger_1975-2018.pdf|work=stm.baden-wuerttemberg.de|accessdate=4 April 2012}}
  • 2013 Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany, Cross of Merit 1st Class[http://www.bundespraesident.de/SharedDocs/Berichte/DE/Joachim-Gauck/2013/10/131004-Verdienstorden-Tag-deutsche-Einheit.html Communication from the Office] of the President of Germany, Retrieved 4 October 2013
  • various ECHO Klassik Prize, eight-time winner{{Cite web|url=https://rudolf-oetker-halle.de/veranstaltung/sabine-meyer.html|title=Sabine Meyer|publisher=Rudolf-Oetker-Halle}}

Selected recordings

References

{{reflist}}