Robert Plane

Longtime principal clarinetist of the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Robert Plane has also cultivated a vigorous solo career. He has been especially noted for his intensive explorations of the British clarinet repertory and his support of new music. Plane was born in Great Yarmouth in the east of England and began wind studies at school on the recorder. He switched to the clarinet after hearing famed clarinetist Jack Brymer play a concert in the town's Hippodrome -- directly after a circus had closed at the venue, he recalled, and the smell of the circus animals remained. P...