Renaud Capuçon

    Renaud Capuçon

    January 27, 1976 (49 years old) in Chambéry, Savoie, France

    Renaud Capuçon (born 27 January 1976) is a French classical violinist. Since late 2016 he has been teaching at the Royal Northern College of Music. Capuçon was born in ChambĂ©ry on 27 January 1976. He entered the conservatory in his native city at the age of 4, and then the Conservatoire national supĂ©rieur de musique et de danse de Paris (CNSMDP) at the age of 14 where he studied under GĂ©rard Poulet. Three years later he completed his studies there, winning first prize in both chamber music and violin. He then entered several international competitions and joined the European Union Youth Orchestra, and then the Gustav Mahler Youth Orchestra as first violin under the direction of Claudio Abbado. At the same time he launched his career as a soloist and chamber musician, playing with Nicholas Angelich, JĂ©rĂŽme Ducros, Frank Braley, HĂ©lĂšne Grimaud, GĂ©rard CaussĂ©, as well as with his younger brother Gautier, a cellist. In 1996, he founded an annual festival at La Ravoire near ChambĂ©ry, the Rencontres artistiques de Bel-Air, which ended in 2010. It welcomed the most important chamber players including Jean-Pierre Wallez, Michel Dalberto, Martha Argerich, Stephen Kovacevich, Augustin Dumay, GĂ©rard CaussĂ©, Paul Meyer, Emmanuel Pahud, Katia and Marielle LabĂšque. In 2013 he began directing an Easter festival in Aix-en-Provence. He has recorded chamber works of Ravel, Schubert, Brahms, as well concertos for violin by Schumann and Mendelssohn under the direction of Daniel Harding. After playing a Vuillaume, a Guadagnini, and then a Stradivarius, in 2005 the Banque de Suisse Italienne BSI loaned him a Guarnerius, the "Panette" of 1737 that had belonged to Isaac Stern. The prizes he has won include the 1992 first in chamber music and 1993 first in violin at CNSMD de Paris, then in 1995, the prize of the Berlin Academy of Arts. In 2000, he was named talent of the year by Victoires de la musique classique, which in 2005 awarded him the title "instrumental soloist of the year". In 2006 he received the Georges Enescu violin prize from the SociĂ©tĂ© des auteurs, compositeurs et Ă©diteurs de musique. On 25 May 2009, he participated in the film 7.57 am-pm directed by Simon Lelouch, in which he performed the Melody of Orpheus by Gluck on his Guarnerius in the middle of a crowd of commuters on Line 6 of the Paris MĂ©tro, unrecognized and unremarked by the passing crowd. In June 2011, he was appointed Chevalier of the National Order of Merit by the French government and ‘Chevalier de la LĂ©gion d’honneur’ in March 2016. He has worked with contemporary composers such as Nicolas Bacri (solo violin sonata, 1999), Karol Beffa (duet for violin and cello Masques, concerto for violin, string quartet MosaĂŻques), Pascal Dusapin (concerto for violin - Aufgang), Bruno Mantovani (concerto for violin - Jeux d'eau, 2012) and Wolfgang Rihm (concerto for violin - Gedicht des Malers, 2015). On 4 January 2019, he performed a concert during “Winter at Tantora” music carnival running at Al-'Ula, a UNESCO World Heritage Site in northwestern Saudi Arabia. ... Source: Article "Renaud Capuçon" from Wikipedia in English, licensed under CC-BY-SA 3.0.

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