profesSional CV

G. V. Buonomano

Mihael Paar  was born in Zagreb, Croatia 1980. He started his musical education at the age of ten in a small town of Samobor and graduated from the Music Academy in Zagreb in 2002. He continued his studies with the famous clarinetist Alois Brandhofer (solo clarinetist of the Berlin Philharmonics 1986-1992) at the Mozarteum School of Music Salzburg, earning his MA summa cum laude in 2006.

In 1995 the 15 year old made an outstanding debut, performing Weber's Concertino with the Symphony Orchestra Windstrings and maestro Alan Bjelinski. Since then he has given numerous concerts and recitals in his home country and abroad. Special impressions have

been made by his recent performances of Artie Shaw's Concerto for Clarinet and Symphonic Jazz Orchestra. Along with the 3rd and the 2nd Prize (1994 and 1996), he won the Croatian Nationals (1st Prize) in 1998, as well as the 3rd Prize in chamber music in 1997.

He entered the final round of the 2nd International Music Competition in Padua 2004 and won the 4th Prize competing with all musicians (instrumentalists, singers and ensembles) without age limit. He won the 4th International Clarinet Competition Ohrid Pearls in Ohrid, Macedonia 2005 by winning 2nd Prize (1st Prize not awarded). He was a semi-finalist in the 2nd International Clarinet Competition in Turin 2003 as well as a semi-finalist in the International Music Competition Soloists with Orchestra in Padua 2005 (all musicians-instrumentalists, singers and ensembles without age limit). In the season 2006/07 Mihael Paar was awarded a special prize by the Croatian Composers' Society for the best interpretation of a work by a Croatian composer. As a composer himself, he won the 3rd Prize at the International Competition for Piano Composition Town of Challenge in Bari 2005 for his piece Amoroso for piano solo. In May 2005 he made his Italian Debut in Venice (Palace Albrizzi), which was immediately followed by a recital in one of Padua’s most famous historic palaces (Palace Zacco Armeni).

Mihael Paar shows great affinity for both jazz and contemporary music, as well as for many modern (multiphonics, frulato, slap, glissando) and special techniques (double tonguing, circular breathing) which can be well seen in his wide and extensive repertoire. His performances include concerts and recitals at the established international festivals (Music Biennale Zagreb, Samobor Music Autumn, International Music Festival Pula) and concert halls (Lisinski, HGZ, Mozarteum's Great Hall). As a member of Mozarteum Symphony Orchestra, Bläserphilharmonie Salzburg and Mozarteum Ensemble For Contemporary Music he took part in many concerts and CD productions. He was a participant of the master classes of renowned clarinetists like G.Deplus, M.Bekavac, M.Edwards and N.V.Volkov.

Mihael Paar is also a composer of several works for clarinet, piano, and various chamber groups, some of which are published and have been performed with great success. The quality of Paar's compositions have been confirmed both by audiences and reviewers alike (Quartet Adagio, Espressivo e Allegro for two Clarinets and Bassoon, Concerto for Clarinet, Storming Suite for Piano, Amoroso, etc.). He also composed a great selection of paraphrases, variations and cadences on/for works from standard clarinet literature. His wide artistic and humanistic interests resulted with many critics, reviews and analyses of different topics published in several Croatian newspapers.

Mihael Paar was awarded scholarships from his hometowns of Zagreb, Samobor, and Zagreb County, as well as the title of the best student of the generation. He made several recordings for Croatian National Radio-Television (HRT) and for the Mozarteum's Archive. His engagement is recognized in Croatian Music Associations such as Croatian Clarinet Society (HDK), Croatian Music Artists' Society (HDGU) and Croatian Performers' Rights Collecting Society (HUZIP), all of which he is a member of.

Mihael Paar is a featured artist of the Zagreb Concert Management and performs under since 2007.