Gautier Capuçon

Gautier Capuçon - cellist

Person from France

Genres: cello, instrumental, wood and string, Classical

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About Gautier Capuçon

Gautier Capuçon (born September 3, 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. He began his formal musical education in his hometown at the Ecole Nationale de Musique de Chambéry, 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 the talented youngster 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. Following on, he then became a pupil of the distinguished cello pedagogue Philippe Muller at the most prestigious 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. Between 1997-8, as a student, he was cellist in the European Community Youth Orchestra (now the European Union Youth Orchestra) and also in the Gustav Mahler Jugendorchester, playing under distinguished conductors including Bernard Haitink, Pierre Boulez and Claudio Abbado. He now enjoys a flourishing concert career and is in demand internationally as a soloist, playing with many of the world's leading conductors and orchestras. He also has a passion for chamber music, in which he often partners his brother as well as with many renowned musicians. As with many instrumentalist virtuosi, he is also an accomplished pianist. He started learning the piano at the age of seven and studied it as his second instrument at the Conservatoire Supérieur de Paris under Christophe Egiziano. He enjoys playing jazz piano for recreational fun. He married Delphine Borsarello, also a cellist, in September 2007. Capuçon's principal instrument is a 1701 Matteo Goffriller cello which he possesses on loan. He also has a 1746 Joseph Contreras cello on loan to him from BSI (Banca della Svizzera Italiana). Speaking about his Goffriller cello in April 2008, he said: "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."

Taken from Last.fm

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