Biography

A cosmopolitan, subtle gentleman with an almost inexhaustible repertoire who makes the violin sing in all its facets – violinist Renaud Capuçon is undisputedly one of the leading musicians of our time. Whether as a soloist, chamber musician, festival director or teacher: the charming Frenchman with the unmistakably dark, shimmering tone combines creativity and virtuosity in his diverse projects and shines in his collaborations with renowned orchestras, conductors and fellow musicians.

The 2024/25 season will once again see Renaud Capuçon as a soloist in the violin concertos by Mozart, Mendelssohn and Korngold with numerous international orchestras such as the Toronto Symphony under Gustavo Gimeno and on European-wide tours with the Budapest Festival Orchestra under Iván Fischer and the Vienna Symphony Orchestra under Petr Popelka. Together with Marin Alsop and the New York Philharmonic Orchestra, Renaud Capuçon will give the world premiere of Nico Muhly’s new violin concerto in March 2025. He will return to the Luxembourg Philharmonic as conductor in 2025.

Renaud Capuçon has built up an impressive reputation as a soloist through his intensive concert activity in recent years and is a welcome guest of international orchestras. He regularly performs with orchestras such as the Berlin and Vienna Philharmonic, Israel Philharmonic, Boston und London Symphony, Staatskapelle Berlin, Staatskapelle Dresden, Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, Orchestre de Paris, Orchestre National de France, Les Siècles, Orchester der Mailänder Scala, Mahler Chamber Orchestra, Chamber Orchestra of Europe and Orquesta Sinfónica Simón Bolívar de Venezuela under the baton of renowned conductors such as Daniel Barenboim, François-Xavier Roth, Gustavo Dudamel, Long Yu, Paavo Järvi, Philippe Jordan, Vladimir Jurowski, Klaus Mäkelä, Andris Nelsons, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Anja Bihlmaier, Jukka-Pekka Saraste, Daniel Harding, Christoph Eschenbach and Lahav Shani.

Chamber music plays a particularly important role in Renaud Capuçon’s work. It is not only as Artistic Director of the Festival de Pâques in Aix-en-Provence, which he founded, the Sommets Musicaux de Gstaad and the Rencontres Musicales d’Évian that he lives out his love for smaller ensembles. Chamber music invitations have taken the violinist to festivals in Salzburg, Edinburgh, Lucerne, Verbier, Roque d’Anthéron and Tanglewood, among others. The Frenchman’s musical partners include the pianists Martha Argerich, Nicholas Angelich, Yefim Bronfman, Khatia Buniatishvili, Hélène Grimaud, Igor Levit, Maria João Pires and Yuja Wang, violist Yuri Bashmet and the cellists Gautier Capuçon and Julia Hagen.

Renaud Capuçon has already created a monument to himself with his award-winning discography: since 2022, a highly acclaimed duo album with Martha Argerich, the complete Mozart violin sonatas with Kit Armstrong and Mozart’s violin concertos with the Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne, of which he has been Artistic Director since 2021, have been released in partnership with Deutsche Grammophon. Previously, Erato/Warner Classics released Elgar’s Violin Concerto and Violin Sonata with the London Symphony Orchestra conducted by Simon Rattle as well as recordings of violin concertos by Vivaldi and Saint-George with the Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne.

In addition, a digital album of Mozart’s two piano quartets was released by “Beau Soir Productions”, Renaud Capuçon’s unique initiative that provides comprehensive support to young talents at a crucial stage in their careers.

His album “Au Cinema” with popular film scores received a sequel in February 2024: “Cinema 2”.

Renaud Capuçon was born in Chambéry in 1976 and studied in Paris and Berlin with Thomas Brandis and Isaac Stern. He received important impulses and encouragement from Martha Argerich and her festival in Lugano. From 1997, Renaud Capuçon studied and worked for three years as concertmaster of the Gustav Mahler Youth Orchestra under conductors such as Claudio Abbado, Pierre Boulez, Seiji Ozawa and Franz Welser-Möst. The violinist now teaches at the Lausanne School of Music.
Renaud Capuçon has received great recognition in his home country of France, including being named “Chevalier de l’Ordre national du Mérite” in 2011 and “Chevalier de la Légion d’honneur” in 2016. In 2024, he was awarded the “Médaille d’Officier dans l’ordre National du Mérite” by President Macron. As a representative of his country, he took part in internationally acclaimed events and played with Yo-Yo Ma at the official commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the armistice after the First World War under the Arc de Triomphe in Paris and in front of the heads of government at the G7 summit in Biarritz. Other milestones include his appointment as a “Unesco Artist for Peace” in 2019 and the publication of his first book, “Mouvement perpétuel”, in March 2020.

Renaud Capuçon plays the Guarneri del Gesù “Panette” from 1737, which previously belonged to Isaac Stern.

2024/25 Season