Renaud Capuçon

The French violinist Renaud Capuçon was born in Chambéry in 1976 and began his musical training aged 14 at the Paris Conservatoire. During his studies he won numerous awards. He then studied in Berlin with Thomas Brandis and Isaac Stern. In 1997 Claudio Abbado appointed him concert master of the Gustav Mahler Jugendorchester. Since then, Renaud Capuçon has established himself as one of the most important violinists working today. He has performed with leading orchestras such as the Berlin, Vienna and New York Philharmonics, the London and Boston Symphony Orchestras, the Orchestre de Paris, the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, the Orchestra della Scala, the Orchestre National de France, the Chamber Orchestra of Europe and the Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra of Venezuela under such renowned conductors as Daniel Barenboim, Semyon Bychkov, Stéphane Denève, Christoph von Dohnányi, Gustavo Dudamel, Christoph Eschenbach, Valery Gergiev, Bernard Haitink, Daniel Harding, Long Yu, Paavo Järvi, Andris Nelsons, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, François-Xavier Roth, Lahav Shani, Robin Ticciati and Jaap van Zweden.

Highlights of the 2022/23 season have included his debut at New York’s Carnegie Hall with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, as part of a tour of the USA.

He has a great affinity with chamber music and has appeared at the Edinburgh, Berlin, Lucerne, Verbier, Aix-en-Provence, Roque d’Anthéron, San Sebastián, Stresa, Tanglewood and Salzburg Festivals, performing with musicians such as Nicholas Angelich, Martha Argerich, Yuri Bashmet, Yefim Bronfman, Khatia Buniatishvili, Hélène Grimaud, Maria João Pires and Yuja Wang, as well as his brother, cellist Gautier Capuçon. He has also represented France at prestigious international events, including performing with Yo-Yo Ma under the Arc de Triomphe for the official centenary commemoration of Armistice Day and playing for world leaders at the G7 Summit in Biarritz.

Renaud Capuçon is artistic director of the Festival de Pâques in Aix-en-Provence, which he founded in 2013, and in 2016 he was appointed artistic director of the Sommets Musicaux de Gstaad. Since the 2021/22 season, he is chief conductor and artistic director of the Lausanne Chamber Orchestra.

Renaud Capuçon amassed an extensive discography during his time as an exclusive artist of Erato / Warner Classics. His recording of contemporary concertos by Wolfgang Rihm, Pascal Dusapin and Bruno Mantovani was nominated for the French Victoires de la Musique in 2017 and won an ECHO Klassik. Since September 2022 he has had a creative partnership with Deutsche Grammophon. In December 2022 he released a live recording of a concert with Martha Argerich, and in June 2023 he and Kit Armstrong released a recording of Mozart’s violin sonatas.

In 2011 Renaud Capuçon was appointed Chevalier de l’Ordre national du Mérite and, in 2016, Chevalier de la Légion d’honneur.

Renaud Capuçon plays the Guarneri violin ‘Panette’ of 1737, which previously belonged to Isaac Stern.