French violinist Renaud Capuçon is firmly established internationally as a major soloist, recitalist and chamber musician. He is known and loved for his poise, depth of tone and virtuosity, and he works with the world’s most prestigious orchestras, artists, venues and festivals.
Born in Chambéry in 1976, Renaud Capuçon began his studies at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris at the age of fourteen, winning numerous awards during his five years there. Following this, Capuçon moved to Berlin to study with Thomas Brandis and Isaac Stern and was awarded the Prize of the Berlin Academy of Arts. In 1997, Claudio Abbado invited him to become concertmaster of the Gustav Mahler Jugendorchester, which he led for three summers, working with conductors including Boulez, Ozawa, Welser-Möst and Claudio Abbado.
Since then, Capuçon has established himself as a soloist at the very highest level. He performs with leading orchestras such as the Berlin Philharmonic, Boston Symphony, Chamber Orchestra of Europe, Filarmonica della Scala, London Symphony Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, Vienna Philharmonic, Orchestre de Paris, Orchestre National de France, and Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France. His many conductor relationships include Barenboim, Bychkov, Dénève, Dohnanyi, Dudamel, Dutoit, Eschenbach, Gergiev, Haitink, Harding, Long Yu, Paavo Järvi, Nelsons, Nézet-Seguin, Roth, Shani, Ticciati and van Zweden. Upcoming highlights in the 2022-23 season include his debut at Carnegie Hall with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra as part of a tour around the United States.
A great commitment to chamber music has led him to collaborations with Argerich, Angelich, Barenboim, Bashmet, Bronfman, Buniatishvili, Grimaud, Hagen, Ma, Pires, Trifonov, Yo-Yo Ma and Yuja Wang, as well as with his brother, cellist Gautier Capuçon, and have taken him, among others, to the Berlin, Lucerne, Verbier, Aix-en-Provence, Roque d’Anthéron, San Sebastián, Stresa, Salzburg, Edinburgh International and Tanglewood festivals. Capuçon has represented France at some of the world’s most prestigious international events; he has performed with Yo-Yo Ma for the official commemoration of Armistice Day and powered by TCPDF, in the presence of more than 80 heads of state, played for world leaders at the G7 Summit in Biarritz.
Capuçon is the artistic director of two festivals, the Sommets Musicaux de Gstaad, since 2016, and the Easter Festival in Aix-en-Provence, which he founded in 2013. Since 2021, he has also been the artistic director of the Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne. His first set of recordings with the ensemble, released in September 2021, are entirely devoted to the music of Arvo Pärt; recordings of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons and two concerti by Joseph Bologne, the Chevalier de Saint-Georges were released in September 2022.
Capuçon has built an extensive discography. Recent releases with Erato/Warner Classics include a recording of Elgar’s violin concerto and violin sonata with the LSO conducted by Simon Rattle, an album with Guillaume Bellom featuring an extensive range of shorter works arranged for violin and piano, and recordings of works by Saint-Saëns performed with Daniel Harding, Bertrand Chamayou and Edgar Moreau. His album “Au Cinema,” featuring much loved selections from film music, was released to critical acclaim in October 2018.
In 2017, Capuçon founded a new ensemble, the Lausanne Soloists, comprised of current and former students of the Haute École de Musique de Lausanne, where he has held a professorship since 2014. He plays the Guarneri del Gesù Panette (1737), which belonged to Isaac Stern. In June 2011, he was appointed Chevalier de l’Ordre National du Mérite and in March 2016, Chevalier de la Légion d’honneur by the French government.
Please note: Biographies are based on information provided to the CSO by the artists or their representatives. More current information may be available on websites of the artists or their management.
