Sabine Meyer

After shaking up the German classical world early in her career, Sabine Meyer became the most engaging and adventurous concert clarinettist of her era. Born in 1959 in Crailsheim, Meyer began her musical education with her clarinettist father and made her professional debut at 16. At 23, she became the first woman to join the Berlin Philharmonic. (Finding herself caught in a crossfire between conductor Herbert von Karajan and her woodwind colleagues, she left after less than a year.) Though she has performed with approximately 300 orchestras around the world, chamber music has always been Meyer’s particular passion. Following her departure from the Berlin Philharmonic in 1983, she began the prolific clarinet ensemble Trio di Clarone with her husband, Reiner Wehle, and her brother, Wolfgang Meyer. For much of her career, Sabine Meyer has also dedicated herself to premiering daring new works, as well as giving definitive performances of Classical- and Romantic-era concertos. At the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival in 2018, Meyer mounted a stunning 19 concerts highlighting her myriad interests as a musician, the creative high-water mark of her career to date.