| Gautier Capuçon | |
| Birth Date: | 3 September 1981 |
| Birth Place: | Chambéry, France |
| Genre: | Classical |
| Occupation: | Musician |
| Instrument: | Cello |
| Years Active: | 1998–present |
| Associated Acts: | Renaud Capuçon |
Gautier Capuçon (born 3 September 1981) is a French cellist.
Gautier Capuçon was born in Chambéry, Savoie, the youngest of three siblings. His brother is the violinist Renaud Capuçon.
He started learning the cello when he was four years old.[1] [2] [3] He began his formal musical education in his hometown at the Ecole Nationale de Musique de Chambéry,[4] where he graduated with first prizes in cello and in piano.
In Paris, he studied the cello initially with Annie Cochet-Zakine, who had heard him in Chambéry and brought him with her to the Conservatoire Supérieur de Paris (CNR), where he graduated in 1997 with the first prize in cello. He then became a pupil of cello pedagogue Philippe Muller at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris (CNSMP), where he graduated in 2000 with first prizes in cello and chamber music. After that, he finished his studies with Heinrich Schiff at the University of Music and Performing Arts, Vienna.[5]
Between 1997 and 1998, as a student, he was a cellist in the European Community Youth Orchestra (now the European Union Youth Orchestra) and also in the Gustav Mahler Jugendorchester, playing under conductors including Bernard Haitink, Pierre Boulez and Claudio Abbado.
He is also an accomplished pianist. He started learning the piano at the age of seven[6] and studied it as his second instrument at the Conservatoire Supérieur de Paris under Christophe Egiziano.[7] He enjoys playing jazz piano recreationally.[3] Now he teaches at Classe d'Excellence de Fondation Louis Vuitton with young students.
Capuçon's principal instrument is a 1701 Matteo Goffriller cello which he has on loan.[8] He also has a 1746 Joseph Contreras cello on loan from BSI (Banca della Svizzera Italiana).[7]
Speaking about his Goffriller cello in April 2008, he said:[9]
I am very lucky to be playing this cello for ten, nearly eleven, years now. It is a Matteo Goffriller, of the Venetian school, from 1701. All the Goffriller cellos that I have tried are not easy to play. For each note you need to know how much bow pressure, how much vibrato and how much bow speed you can put on it. It is an instrument that you really need to know to be able to play; it is not like a Montagnana or a Stradivarius. Montagnana, for example – most of them are really easy to play. So in a way, on the Goffriller, I probably search more and look more for different things.
Describing a Montagnana cello as his "dream" instrument of choice, he said: "I hope one day to be able to play on a Montagnana."[9]
Gautier Capuçon was an exclusive recording artist for Virgin Classics (a division of EMI). In 2015 he recorded for Erato, a division of Warner Music Group.
In addition, Gautier Capuçon has featured in EMI's annual CD releases of live recordings from the Lugano Festival each year, "Martha Argerich & Friends", at which he is a frequent returning guest performer.
He also released these albums:
| Year | Album | Peak positions | Notes | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FRA [10] | BEL (Fl) [11] | BEL (Wa) [12] | NLD [13] | SWI [14] | ||||
| 2018 | Intuition | 52 | 117 | 101 | 102 | 78 | ||
| 2020 | Emotions | 20 | 57 | |||||
| 2021 | Souvenirs | 70 | 121 | |||||
| 2022 | Sensations | 4 | 49 | 62 | ||||
| 2023 | Destination Paris | 93 | ||||||
| Date | album title | Credited to | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2013 | Saint-Saëns: La muse et le poète | Renaud Capuçon / Gautier Capuçon / Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France / Lionel Bringuier | |
| 2013 | Schubert: Arpeggione | Gautier Capuçon / Frank Braley | |
| 2015 | Shostakovich: The Cello Concertos | Gautier Capuçon / Mariinsky Orchestra / Valery Gergiev | |
| 2016 | Beethoven | Gautier Capuçon / Frank Braley | |
| 2017 | Szymanowski Lutosławski | Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra / Gautier Capuçon / Alexander Liebreich | |
| 2019 | Franck - Chopin | Gautier Capuçon / Yuja Wang |
Gautier Capuçon is represented by: