French violinist and conductor 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 Pierre Boulez, Seiji Ozawa, Franz 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, New York Philharmonic, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Filarmonica della Scala, London Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre de Paris, Orchestre National de France, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Münchner Philharmoniker, and Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra. His many conductor relationships include Daniel Barenboim, Semyon Bychkov, Stéphane Denève, Christoph von Dohnányi, Gustavo Dudamel, Christoph Eschenbach, Bernard Haitink, Daniel Harding, Paavo Järvi, Klaus Mäkelä, Andris Nelsons, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, François-Xavier Roth, Lahav Shani, Tugan Sokhiev, Robin Ticciati, Long Yu, and Jaap van Zweden.
Highlights in the 2025/26 season include two appearances at Carnegie Hall, a European tour with the Budapest Festival Orchestra under Iván Fischer, and returns to the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, Staatskapelle Berlin, and Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks.
A great commitment to chamber music has led him to collaborations with Nicholas Angelich, Martha Argerich, Daniel Barenboim, Yuri Bashmet, Yefim Bronfman, Khatia Buniatishvili, Hélène Grimaud, Igor Levit, Maria João Pires, Kian Soltani, Daniil Trifonov, Yo-Yo Mand Yuja Wang, and has taken him, among others, to the Berlin, Lucerne, Verbier, Aix-en-Provence, Roque d’Anthéron, San Sebastián, Stresa, Salzburg, Edinburgh International and Tanglewood festivals. Renaud 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, Renaud 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, Renaud 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 Wiener Symphoniker, Karajan-Academy of the Berliner Philharmoniker, Gürzenich Orchester Köln, and Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse, to name only a few. Guest engagements as a conductor in the 2025/26 season include a tour with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe, returns to the Luxembourg Philharmonic Orchestra and Orchestre National de Mulhouse, and debut guesting weeks with the Hamburg Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre Philharmonique Royal de Liège, Symfonieorkest Vlaanderen, and with the Orchestra of St. Luke’s as part of their Bach Festival 2026 at Carnegie Hall.
Renaud 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.
Renaud 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. 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 to mark the centenary of the composer’s death.
His 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 and conducted by the late Seiji Ozawa.
Since 2014, Renaud 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".
Renaud Capuçon plays the Guarneri del Gesù "Panette" (1737), which belonged to Isaac Stern.