Olivier Derbesse began playing the clarinet at the age of ten at the Roubaix Conservatoire in Michel Corenflos’s class. He continued his studies at the Paris Conservatoire – CNSMDP in the classes of Guy Deplus and Michel Arrignon, where he was awarded a First Prize in 1991. During this period, he was also awarded a First Prize in chamber music in Maurice Bourgue’s class.  

At the age of eighteen, he became principal E-flat clarinet with the Orchestre national de Lyon. In 2001, Christoph Eschenbach chose him to become principal E-flat clarinet with the Orchestre de Paris.

He is also dedicated to teaching, holding the post of clarinet teacher at the Conservatoire in Paris’s 19th arrondissement and at the Conservatoire d’Aulnay-sous-Bois, and gives courses at the summer academies in Biarritz and Saint-Jean-de-Luz.

Olivier Derbesse is also co-founder of ‘Les flamants noirs’, a basset horn trio whose aim is to develop the repertoire of an instrument from the clarinet family that remains little known today.

http://www.lesflamantsnoirs.com/