Hervé Joulain
became principal horn of the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France at the age of only 20, before taking up the same position with the Orchestre National de France in 1997. He has played under such distinguished conductors as Leonard Bernstein, Zubin Metha, Daniel Barenboim, Pierre Boulez, Lorin Maazel, Seiji Ozawa, Eliahu Inbal, Kurt Mazur, Charles Dutoit, Riccardo Muti and Bernard Haitink. Since the end of 2002, at Lorin Maazel's invitation, he has also been principal horn of the Symphonica Toscanini and a guest with the New York Philharmonic Orchestra, the Accademia di Santa Cecilia, the Teatro alla Scala di Milano, the Chamber Orchestra of Europe, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra Amsterdam, the Berlin Philharmonic and many others.

As a soloist he has played all the great horn concertos of the music literature with more than 120 different orchestras. In addition, he cultivates his love of chamber music by playing with partners such as Pinchas Zukerman, Boris Berezowski, Boris Belkin, Vadim Repin, Shlomo Mintz, Yuri Bashmet, Natalia Gutmann, Paul Tortelier, Pierre Amoyal and Gidon Kremer in concerts all over the world.

His great interest in contemporary music (well over 20 first performances) has given him the opportunity to work closely with composers such as Nicolas Bacri, Philippe Hersant, Giya Kancheli, Krzysztof Penderecki, Fabio Vacchi, Gérard Grisey, Michael Levinas, Ivan Fedele, Alessandro Solbiati and Tristan Murail. In addition, Hervé Joulain was congratulated by György Ligeti as the best interpreter of his trio. Sebastian Fagerlund dedicated his piece "Transient Light" to him, which will be performed for the first time in Germany at this year's CLASSIX Festival.

From 1994 to 1998 Hervé Joulain was professor of horn at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique in Paris and has given master classes in France, Portugal, the Czech Republic, Canada, Brazil, Ireland, Spain, England, Finland, Italy, Luxembourg and Holland.