French/Swiss flautist  Emmanuel Pahud was not born into a musical family, but his destiny was formed at the age of five when he heard the sounds of Mozart coming from the home of a neighbour who was practising for his examination. "I was humming the song in the hallway one day when the neighbour saw me and said, 'That's Monzart's Flute Concerto!' I asked him to teach me and that's how it started," Pahud recalled to Preston Music.

By the age of 22, Pahud had joined the Berliner Philharmoniker as Principal Flute—a position he still holds today—and he's now lauded as the finest flautist of his generation, "admired for the purity and subtlety of his tonal colours, his imaginative phrasing and his command of a broad range of styles" (Interlude).

Pahud's broad repertoire stretches from Baroque and Classical to chamber and contemporary music, and he's always felt a drive to move forward as an artist: "If I feel that I am trying to do the same thing as before but it's not as fresh as the first time, then I think it's time to move on and do something else," he told Bachtrack.

At the 2026 HKAF, Pahud will be appearing in an all-Bach programme alongside fellow powerhouse musicians Trevor Pinnock (harpsichord) and Jonathan Manson (cello), whom the flautist has described as "gods of the music world". Pahud told Bachtrack: "I love playing this music with them because it's so full of life and energy, and this sort of intensity in music making is something you don't always find."