Renaud Capuçon

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 Berliner Philharmoniker, Wiener
Philharmoniker, Boston Symphony, Filarmonica della Scala, London Symphony
Orchestra, Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, Orchestre de Paris,
Orchestre National de France, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Münchner
Philharmoniker, Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra, and Chamber Orchestra of
Europe. His many conductor relationships include Barenboim, Bychkov, Dénève,
Dohnanyi, Dudamel, Eschenbach, Haitink, Harding, Paavo Järvi, Mäkelä, Nelsons,
Nézet-Seguin, Roth, Shani, Sokhiev, Ticciati, Long Yu, van Zweden. Highlights in the
24/25 season include European tours with the Budapest Festival Orchestra under Iván
Fischer as well as the Vienna Symphony under Petr Popelka, a return to the Toronto
Symphony with Gustavo Gimeno, and a world premiere of Muhly’s Violin Concerto
with the New York Philharmonic under Marin Alsop.

A great commitment to chamber music has led him to collaborations with Argerich,
Angelich, Barenboim, Bashmet, Bronfman, Buniatishvili, Grimaud, Levit, Ma, Pires,
Soltani, Trifonov, Yo-Yo Ma, and Yuja Wang, 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 under the Arc de Triomphe for the official
commemoration of Armistice Day in the presence of more than 80 heads of state and
played for world leaders at the G7 Summit in Biarritz. More recently, Capuçon
performed at the reopening ceremony of the Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Paris with his
brother, cellist Gautier Capuçon, which was attended by more than 1,500 international
dignitaries.

Since 2021, Capuçon has been the Artistic Director of the Orchestre de Chambre de
Lausanne, where he usually appears as conductor and play-director. He is regularly
invited to conduct leading orchestras including the Vienna Symphony, Luxembourg
Philharmonic, Gürzenich Orchester Köln, Orchestra Teatro di San Carlo in Naples,
Karajan-Academy of the Berliner Philharmoniker, Prague Radio Symphony, and
Hungarian Radio Symphony.

Capuçon is the Artistic Director of three festivals; the Sommets Musicaux de Gstaad
since 2016, the Easter Festival in Aix-en-Provence, which he founded in 2013, and,
most recently, the Rencontres Musicales Festival in Evian from 2023.

Capuçon has built an extensive discography. In September 2022, he announced the
launch of his creative partnership with Deutsche Grammophon, and two months later
released his first album with the yellow label – a collection of violin sonatas performed
with Martha Argerich and recorded at his Easter Festival in Aix-en-Provence. More
recent releases include a multi-CD album of Mozart’s 16 violin sonatas with pianist Kit
Armstrong, a recording of the complete Mozart violin concerti with the Orchestre de
Chambre de Lausanne, and, a collection of works by Fauré – marking the centenary of
the composer’s death – performed together with Julia Hagen, Guillaume Bellom, and
the Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne. Capuçon’s latest album, released in 2025,
presents a compendium of works by Richard Strauss, in which numerous solo and
chamber works are bookended by a new studio recording of the composer’s Violin
Concerto, performed with the Wiener Symphoniker under Petr Popelka, and a reading
of “Ein Heldenleben” from 2000, performed by the Gustav Mahler Jugendorchester,
led by Capuçon, and conducted by the late Seiji Ozawa.

Since 2014, Capuçon has taught at the Haute École de Musique in Lausanne. 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. In March 2020, he
published his first book, titled ‘Mouvement perpétuel’.

Capuçon plays the Guarneri del Gesù ‘Panette’ (1737), which belonged to Isaac Stern.