As principal clarinet of the Philharmonia Orchestra and the London Sinfonietta, and a well-known soloist, Mark van de Wiel performs at major venues throughout the world. He has given several London premieres in the Philharmonia’s Music of Today series, and elsewhere the Spanish première of the Carter Concerto, the UK première of the Carter Clarinet Quintet, and of Sir John Taverner’s Cantus Mysticus (at the Proms), and the London première of Graham Fitkin’s Agnostic. Recordings include Ben Foskett’s Hornet, Philip Cashian’s Blue Circus and Flint Juventino Beppe’s Distant Words with the Philharmonia and Vladimir Ashkenazy.

Mark has been the clarinettist with Endymion since its formation in 1980. Other chamber music collaborators have included Pascal Rogé, Geoffrey Parsons, Elizabeth Leonskaja, Kate Royal and the Brodsky Quartet, with whom he gave the London première of Sir Peter Maxwell Davies’s Hymn to Artemis Locheia. With Zsolt-Tihamėr Visontay and Yefim Bronfman he gave several performances of Bartok’s Contrasts in the Philharmonia’s Bartok series Infernal Dance. Other highlights have included the Mozart Quintet in Brazil, and the Berio Sequenza at the Sydney Opera House.

Mark was appointed principal clarinettist with Welsh National Opera and subsequently with Glyndebourne Touring Opera. He joined the Philharmonia as principal clarinet in 2000, and the London Sinfonietta in 2002. He is also principal with the London Chamber Orchestra (with whom he has appeared as soloist at La Scala, Milan). For several years he was the clarinet and basset horn soloist in Mozart’s Clemenza di Tito at the Bayerisches Staatsoper. Mark is the clarinet professor for the I, Culture Orchestra, and for the British Isles Music Festival. He is a committed teacher, and has given masterclasses world-wide.

The Philharmonia was founded in 1945 by EMI producer Walter Legge, originally as a recording orchestra for the growing home audio market. We have worked with a who’s who of 20th- and 21st-century music. Herbert von Karajan, Otto Klemperer, Wilhelm Furtwängler, Arturo Toscanini and Riccardo Muti are just a few of the great artists to be associated with the Orchestra, and we have premiered works by Richard Strauss, Sir Peter Maxwell Davies, Errollyn Wallen, Kaija Saariaho and many others. We have always pioneered the use of technology to reach broader audiences for orchestral music. During the Coronavirus pandemic, we continued to create outstanding performances designed to experience online. We played for lifelong fans and first-time listeners in Brazil, Sudan, Indonesia, India, and high above the Arctic Circle in Norway.

Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall, in the heart of London, has been our home since 1995. We also have residencies at venues and festivals across England: Bedford Corn Exchange, De Montfort Hall in Leicester, The Marlowe in Canterbury, Anvil Arts in Basingstoke, the Three Choirs Festival in the West of England, and Garsington Opera. Central to all our residencies is a Learning & Engagement programme that empowers people to engage with, and participate in, orchestral music.

The Philharmonia is a registered charity. We rely on income from a wide range of sources to deliver our programme. We are proud to be supported by Arts Council England, and grateful for the generosity of the many individuals who make up our supporter family, as well as the Trusts and Foundations who underpin our work. In the US, the Orchestra’s American Patrons generously support the Philharmonia Foundation, a US-registered 501(c)(3) non-profit organisation.

Founded by Anthony Bernard in 1921, the London Chamber Orchestra was the UK’s first professional chamber orchestra and has recently celebrated its centenary.
Throughout its 100 years, LCO has enjoyed many successes and become one of the UK’s most compelling and inclusive musical organisations. Committed to supporting new musical voices and championing new compositions, LCO has commissioned and performed UK premieres by Stravinsky, Vaughan Williams, Prokofiev, Hindemith, Poulenc, Sir Peter Maxwell Davies, James MacMillan, Freya Waley-Cohen, Cheryl Frances-Hoad, Gabriel Prokofiev, and Nicholas Korth.
Alongside its performance schedule, LCO runs Music Junction which brings children and young people together from different social and economic backgrounds, and provides them with opportunities to develop artistic and social skills through shared music making experiences.