Born in Chambéry in 1976, Renaud Capuçon started at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris aged fourteen, winning numerous awards during his five years there. Following this, Capuçon studied under Thomas Brandis and Isaac Stern in Berlin, and was awarded the Prize of the Berlin Academy of Arts. In 1997, he was invited by Claudio Abbado to become concert master of the Gustav Mahler Jugendorchester, which he led for three years, working with conductors such as 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 Berliner Philharmoniker, Vienna Philharmonic, London Symphony Orchestra, Chamber Orchestra of Europe, Orchestre National de France, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Filarmonica della Scala, Boston Symphony and New York Philharmonic. His many conductor relationships include Gergiev, Barenboim, Bychkov, Dénève, Dohnanyi, Dudamel, Eschenbach, Haitink, Harding, Paavo Järvi, Nelsons, Nézet-Seguin, Roth, Shani, Ticciati, van Zweden and Long Yu.
He has built an extensive discography and records exclusively with Erato/Warner Classics. Recent releases include a recording of Bartok’s two violin concerti with the LSO/Roth, Brahms and Berg with the VPO/Harding, and chamber music of Debussy. His latest recording, 'Cinema', featuring much loved selections from film music, was released in October 2018.
He is the Artistic Director of the Sommets Musicaux de Gstaad since 2016 and founded the Aix-en-Provence Easter Festival in 2013. In 2018, Capuçon formed the Lausanne Soloists, comprised of former and current 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 2011 he was appointed 'Chevalier dans l'Ordre National du Mérite' and in 2016 'Chevalier de la Légion d'honneur' by the French Government.
Language spoken: French
Photo credit: Simon Fowler