Clara Manaud was born in Bordeaux in 1995 and began playing the bassoon at the age of six. Clara refined her craft at the CNSMD in Lyon before heading to Stuttgart and then Munich, where she completed a master’s degree under Dag Jensen in 2021.
Honored in several prestigious international competitions – notably the gold medal at the Manhattan Competition (2019) and the “Best Talent” prize at the Concours Talents Classique (2018) – she also distinguished herself at the Prague Spring Competition and the Gillet-Fox Competition in 2022.
Besides performing as a soloist, Clara plays with major European orchestras as guest principal bassoon. She has appeared with the Tonhalle Orchester Zürich, Orchestra dell'Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra, Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, and Frankfurt Oper, among others.
Clara is a Püchner artist and plays a model Superior in traditional dark red finish. Currently principal bassoon of the Iceland Symphony Orchestra, she is supported by the Safran Foundation and Adami.