Yann Ghiro was born in 1971 in Nice and began clarinet lessons at the age of eleven. After studying at the Paris Conservatoire, where he gained first prize in clarinet, bass clarinet and chamber music, he furthered his studies at the Prague Mozart Academy. A Fulbright Scholarship then allowed him to undertake studies at the Juilliard School in New York, where he graduated in 1996. On his return to France he became principal bass clarinet in the Pasdeloup Orchestra in Paris, and worked regularly with, among other orchestras, the Opéra national de Paris, Orchestre de Paris and Ensemble InterContemporain. Yann has been the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra’s principal clarinet since 1998. He has also appeared as guest principal with the other BBC orchestras, as well as with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Royal Northern Sinfonia, Philharmonia Orchestra and The Cleveland Orchestra.