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, Capuçon was invited by Claudio Abbado to become concertmaster of the Gustav Mahler Jugendorchester, which he led for three summers, working with conductors such as Pierre Boulez, Seiji Ozawa, Daniel Barenboim, Franz Welser-Moest and Abbado himself.
Since this time, Capuçon has established himself as a soloist at the very highest level. He has played concerti with orchestras such as the Berlin Philharmonic under Haitink, the Boston Symphony under Dohnanyi and the Orchestre de Paris under Eschenbach. Other orchestras he has performed with include the Bayerischer Rundfunk Sinfonieorchester, NDR Hamburg, Orchestre National de France, La Scala Philharmonic, Swedish Radio Symphony, City of Birmingham Symphony, Chamber Orchestra of Europe, Mahler Chamber Orchestra. Some of the other conductors he has collaborated with include Dutoit, Masur, Brüggen, Bychkov, Philippe Jordan, Krivine, Sawallisch, Ivan Fischer and Robertson.
Upcoming UK engagements for Capucon include concerti with the Halle Orchestra and Scottish Chamber Orchestra, both with Louis Langree, Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra with Yuasa and Royal Scottish National Orchestra with Deneve. In April 2008 Capucon will collaborate with Helene Grimaud and Gautier Capucon for a special project at London's Queen Elizabeth Hall.
Capuçon has a great commitment to performing chamber music and has worked with Argerich, Barenboim, Bronfman, Grimaud, Kovacevich, Pires, Pletnev, Repin, Bashmet and Mørk, as well as with his brother and regular collaborator cellist Gautier Capuçon. These collaborations have taken him to the festivals of Edinburgh, London (Mostly Mozart), Berlin, Lucerne, Verbier, Aix-en-Provence, Roque d'Anthéron, San Sebastian, Stresa, Tanglewood and many others. His recent performance with Gautier Capuçon and Angela Hewitt in London received unanimous critical acclaim.
Capuçon records exclusively for Virgin Classics and his most recent releases include the Dutilleux Violin Concerto with Myung-Whun Chung and the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, the Brahms Violin Sonatas with Nicholas Angelich, Ravel and Schubert chamber music with Gautier Capuçon and Frank Braley and the Mendelssohn and Schumann Violin Concertos with Daniel Harding and the Mahler Chamber Orchestra. Of his 2002 recording 'Le Bœuf sur le toit' with the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie, again with Harding, International Record Review declared "Not since the emergence of Vengerov and Repin has such an exciting young violinist come my way".
Renaud Capuçon plays the Guarneri del Gesù "Panette" (1737) that belonged to Isaac Stern, bought for him by the Banca Svizzera Italiana (BSI).
Renaud Capuçon is represented by Intermusica.
June 2007/439 words. Not to be altered without permission. Please destroy all previous biographical material.