A native of Majorca, Spain, Pascual Martínez-Forteza is the Acting Associate Principal and E-flat Clarinet of the New York Philharmonic. He joined the Orchestra in 2001, the first and only Spanish musician in the Orchestra’s history. He is also a member of the faculty of some of the most prestigious music schools and universities in New York: NYU Steinhardt, Manhattan School of Music, Bard College, and The Juilliard School. Prior to the Philharmonic he held tenure with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, and at age 18 he was assistant principal and later acting principal of the Balearic Symphony Orchestra in Spain. He has been invited to play principal clarinet with the Berlin Philharmonic under Sir Simon Rattle both in Berlin and in Carnegie Hall, Saint Louis Symphony, and Cincinnati Symphony as well as E-flat clarinet with the Philadelphia Orchestra and Dallas Symphony.
Mr. Martínez-Forteza performs an average of 200 performances a year as soloist, with orchestra, as a recitalist, and as a chamber musician. He regularly performs with prestigious artists as well as other orchestra colleagues from the New York Philharmonic, Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, Concertgebouw, and Berlin Philharmonic in music halls around the world including Carnegie Hall in New York, Musikverein in Vienna, Philarmonie in Berlin, etc. In 2004 he started a collaboration with Spanish pianist Gema Nieto, and they won the Sunshine Award in 2017 for their artistic and musical excellence, being the first clarinet and piano duo to receive this prize in over 30 years of this world art organization.
He has been a part of several juries, some of which include the Debussy Competition in Paris, the Dos Hermanas in Seville, Vandoren Clarinet Competition, and the YouTube Competition. He is an active educator and regularly teaches master classes around the world, including at the Shanghai Academy in China, Buffet Crampon Summer Academy, International Clarinet Association, University of Southern California, Mannes School of Music, Universidad de Ciudad de México, and Festival de Clarinete de Lima in Perú, to name a few.
In 2007, he was named Honorary Citizen of Benifaió, in Spain, where he started to study clarinet with his father Pascual V. Martínez, professor of the Conservatory of Majorca and Principal Clarinet of the Balearic Symphony Orchestra. He graduated with a bachelor’s from Majorca Conservatory and a master’s from Barcelona Conservatory, later moving to Los Angeles to pursue Advanced Studies at the University of Southern California with Professor Yehuda Gilad and winning the Concerto Competition.
Pascual Martínez-Forteza is an exclusive Buffet Crampon Artist and Vandoren Artist. He plays Buffet Tosca Green Line, V12 reeds, and mouthpieces M30D and BD5.