Pablo Barragán

Renowned Soloist and Chamber Clarinetist

Germany

A life changing experience. I am delighted and astonished about the quality of these reeds. To perform with them gives me the trust I need to focus only in the music and give my all in it without any worries or fears. I feel trust, and that's an incredible feeling. A look into the future with the best quality I can dream of. Amazing!

“ This evening it was Pablo Barragán who had you under his spell. In addition to his perfect performance style in all respects, it was precisely his soulful tone that kept you holding your breath in suspense.”

With music one can say what cannot be expressed otherwise. Music makes intangible things tangible and touches in a special way. From the first note, Pablo Barragán masterfully creates a connection to his audience. His performance is differentiated, elegant and perfectly nuanced. For each work the Spaniard creates his own color palette, even reaching sometimes for the basset clarinet.

As soloist and chamber musician, his performances lead him again and again through Germany and Europe, from the Philharmonie in Berlin, to the Bayerischen Rundfunk in Munich, the Laieszhalle in Hamburg, the Tonhalle Zürich, to the Konzertgesellschaft Basel, to the L'Auditori Barcelona and to the Athenaeum in Bucharest.

Pablo Barragán’s curiosity always leads him to new interpretive discoveries with orchestras such as the Sinfonieorchester Basel, Hamburger Symphoniker, the Orquesta de Radio Television Española, the Slovak Philharmonie and Chamber Orchestra, Macedonian Philharmonic Orchestra, or the Malaga Philharmonic Orchestra and with conductors such as Clemens Schuldt, Gabriel Feltz, and Christoph Poppen.

Upcoming engagements include invitations as a soloist in Barcelona L'Auditori and Basel Stadt-Casino performing the Nielsen Clarinet concerto under the direction of Anja Bihlmayer and Joonas Pitkanen respectively, and the Magnus Lindberg Concerto with the Real Orquesta Sinfónica de Sevilla and the Brasov Philharmonic Orchestra. In Autumn, he will perform the Copland Concerto under the direction of Boian Videnhoff and end the year with a "Winter-Tour" in Switzerland, together the Graubünden Kammerphilharmonie, performing the Rossini "Thema & Variazioni" under the direction of Paolo Carignani.

The intimacy of chamber music in turn opens up entirely new perspectives. Making music together with artists such as Martha Agerich, Andrei Ionita, Viviane Hagner, Kian Soltani, Tobias Feldman, Vivi Vassileva, Frank Dupree or the Schumann and Novus Quartets, and at festivals such as Lucerne Festival, Menuhin Festival Gstaad, Klosters Music, Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival, Krzyzowa Music Festival or the Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Festival have very special meaning for him.

His musical friendship with Juan Pérez Floristán (piano) and Andrei Ioniţă (cello) led in 2018 to his highly praised debut recording of the Brahms clarinet trios and sonatas on the Spanish label IBS. Since then, the three have given performances in leading musical centers of Europe.

Barragán was awarded the Prix Credit Suisse Jeunes Solistes in 2013 and honored with an invitation to the Lucerne Festival in the same year. He is a prizewinner in numerous international competitions including the ARD Music Competition 2012, the Juventudes Musicales de España 2011 and the European Music Competition for Youth 2011 (EMCY).

Barragán studied at Conservatory in Seville with Antonio Salguero, and the Escuela Superior de Música Reina Sofía in Madrid completing his formation with Matthias Glander at the Barenboim-Said Foundation. In 2009, he moved to the Basel Musik Akademie, where he studied in the master class of François Benda. Martin Fröst, Charles Niedich and Dimitri Ashkenazy also gave him new impulses, and Pablo formed himself as a chamber music passionated artist with Anton Kernjak, Ferenc Rados, Sergio Azzollini, Felix Rengli, Ralph Gothoni, Yulia Deyneka or Silvia Simionescu.

Pablo Barragán is a Backun Clarinets Artist and performs exclusively on his Backun Lumiére instruments. He is regularly invited to teach at the Orquesta Joven de Andalucía and gives masterclasses in his home country to promote young talent. Since 2020, Barragán is professor of clarinet at the Barenboim-Said Foundation.