When the French Victoires de la Musique nominated RENAUD CAPUÇON as “New Talent of the Year” in 2000 and an international jury named him “Rising Star of 2000,” they confirmed his place among the leading violinists of his generation. 

Renaud Capuçon was born in Chambéry in 1976 and began studying at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris at the age of 14 with Gérard Poulet and Veda Reynolds.  In 1992 he was awarded First Prize for Chamber Music and in 1993 First Prize for violin, with a special distinction from the jury. In 1995 he won the Prize of the Berlin Academy of Arts and went on to study with Thomas Brandis, and later, Isaac Stern. Capuçon, by special invitation from Claudio Abbado, held the position of the concertmaster of the Gustav Mahler Jugendorchester, having the opportunity to work with Pierre Boulez, Seiji Ozawa, Daniel Barenboim, Franz Welser-Möst, and Claudio Abbado.

In the 2012/13 season, Capuçon will perform the Brahms Double Concerto with Gautier Capuçon and the Chicago Symphony. He will make his debut performances with the Boston Symphony Orchestra and the New World Symphony and will return to the Los Angeles Philharmonic and the National Symphony Orchestra.

Highlights of Capuçon’s 2011/12 season included debut performances with the San Francisco Symphony under guest conductor Alan Gilbert and the Seattle Symphony with Music Director Ludovic Morlot. In the 2010/11 season Capucon performed with the Philadelphia Orchestra and Semyon Bychkov, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Juanjo Mena, and the Los Angeles Philharmonic and Gustavo Dudamel, as well as a coast-to-coast tour with the China Philharmonic Orchestra and Long Yu. Capuçon’s 2009/10 season included his second U.S. tour with the Bruckner Orchester Linz and Dennis Russell Davies, a debut with the Saint Louis Symphony and David Robertson (Ligeti Violin Concerto), and performances in Paris and Caracas with Gustavo Dudamel (Tchaikovsky and Bruch Violin Concertos). Recent successes in North America include performances with the symphonies of Detroit, Toronto, Houston, and Boston (at Tanglewood under Christoph von Dohnányi) and debuts with the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl, the National Symphony Orchestra under Leonard Slatkin, and the Philadelphia Orchestra under Charles Dutoit. In addition to his recent tours with the Bruckner Orchestra of Linz, Renaud Capuçon has toured with the Budapest Festival Orchestra under Iván Fischer and the WDR Cologne Orchestra under Semyon Bychkov. Capuçon gave his New York City recital debut in 2007.

In addition to his debut in November 2002 with the Berliner Philharmoniker under Bernard Haitink, Capuçon has performed with many of the most prestigious orchestras in Germany, France, Israel, Denmark, Sweden, Italy, Switzerland, Poland, Japan, Canada, and the U.K. He has worked with world-renowned conductors such as Christian Arming, Myung-Whun Chung, Jean-Claude Casadesus, Charles Dutoit, Gustavo Dudamel, Semyon Bychkov, Christoph Eschenbach, Iván Fischer, Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos, Hans Graf, Bernard Haitink, Daniel Harding, Gunther Herbig, Armin Jordan, Philippe Jordan, Emmanuel Krivine, Marc Minkowski, John Nelson, Michel Plasson, David Robertson, Michael Schonwandt, Leif Segerstam, and Wolfgang Sawallisch.

A serious chamber musican, Capuçon collaborates often with his brother, cellist Gautier Capuçon, and pianist Nicholas Angelich, as well as with artists such as Martha Argerich, Daniel Barenboim, Elena Bashkirova, Hélène Grimaud, André Watts, Yefim Bronfman, Myung-Whun Chung, Stephen Kovacevich, Jean-Yves Thibaudet, Vadim Repin, Katia and Marielle Labèque, Yuri Bashmet, Truls Mørk, Paul Meyer, and Kremerata Baltica. In 2008 the Capuçon-Angelich Trio had debut performances in San Francisco, New York City, Washington, D.C., Quebec, Montreal, and Vancouver. Capuçon receives regular invitations to the Berlin, Lockenhaus, Jerusalem, Stavanger, Verbier, Davos, Aix-en-Provence, Divonne, Menton, Saint-Denis, and Strasbourg festivals. He has given recitals in Paris’ Cité de la Musique, Vienna’s Musikverein, Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw, New York’s Carnegie Hall, Brussels’ Palais des Beaux Arts, Cologne’s Philharmonie, and in Birmingham and Athens. In August 2008, Renaud collaborated with Gautier Capuçon, Martha Argerich, and Gustavo Dudamel at the Salzburg Festival, performing Beethoven’s Triple Concerto, which was recorded for a live DVD.

In 1999, Capuçon released his first recording for Virgin Classics, the Schubert recital Grand Duo with Jérôme Ducros. Now an exclusive Virgin Classics artist, he has since recorded several CDs:  Ravel Piano Trio and Violin Sonata with Gautier Capuçon and pianist Frank Braley; French works for violin and orchestra with Die Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen and Daniel Harding; music of Dutilleux with Truls Mørk, the Radio France Philharmonic, and Myung-Whun Chung; Face à Face, contemporary duos for violin and cello, with Gautier Capuçon; and Brahms’ Piano Trios Nos. 1, 2 and 3 with Gautier Capuçon and pianist Nicholas Angelich. In 2008, Capuçon, in collaboration with Jérôme Ducros, released Capriccio, featuring an appetizing selection of short pieces that pay tribute to legendary violinists of the 20th century, including Kreisler and Heifetz. He has also recorded the Schubert Trio, Op. 100 and Trout Piano Quintet on Erato and the Schumann Quintet on DG. For EMI, he has recorded the Franck Violin Sonata in A major with Lilya Zilberstein and Mendelssohn’s Piano Trio No. 1 with Gautier Capuçon and Martha Argerich.

In March of 2009, Renaud released a Virgin Classics recording of Mozart’s Violin Concertos Nos. 1 and 3 and Sinfonia concertante with Antoine Tamistat, under Louis Langrée and the Scottish Chamber Orchestra; it was followed in October 2009 with Beethoven and Korngold Violin Concertos with the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra and Yannick Nézet-Séguin conducting. Capuçon’s recording of the complete Brahms Violin Sonatas with Nicholas Angelich was an Editor’s Choice by Gramophone Magazine. His recording of Schubert’s “Trout” Quintet for Virgin Classics with Gautier Capuçon, Gérard Caussé, Alois Posch, and Frank Braley was also an Editor’s Choice by Gramophone Magazine in March 2005 and “Disc Of The Month” in February 2005 by Classic FM.

Renaud Capuçon plays a 1737 Guarneri del Gesù, the “Panette” that belonged to Isaac Stern, bought for him by the Banca Svizzera Italiana. In June 2011 he was appointed “Chevalier dans l’Ordre National du Mérite” by the French Government.