Gautier Capuçon & Yuja Wang
Biographie Gautier Capuçon & Yuja Wang
Gautier Capuçon
is widely recognised as one of the foremost cellists of his generation and has received consistently high critical praise for his recordings and performances. Born in Chambéry in 1981, Capuçon began playing the cello at the age of five. He studied at the Conservatoire National Supérieur in Paris with Philippe Muller and Annie Cochet-Zakine, and later with Heinrich Schiff in Vienna. The winner of various first prizes in many leading international competitions, including the International André Navarra Prize, Capuçon was named ‘New Talent of the Year’ by Victoires de la Musique (the French equivalent of a Grammy) in 2001; in 2004 he received a Borletti-Buitoni Trust Award since which time he has received several Echo Klassik awards, most recently for his recording of Tchaikovsky and Prokofiev with Gergiev and for his recording of Fauré’s complete chamber music.
Capuçon performs regularly as a soloist with the major orchestras worldwide, and is a favourite of conductors at the highest level including Gergiev, Dudamel, Bychkov, Haitink, Chung, Dutoit, Eschenbach, Nelsons and Nézet-Séguin. In recent seasons, concerto highlights have included orchestras such as LA Philharmonic, Seattle, Boston, Chicago Symphony, San Francisco Symphony, Berlin Philharmonic, London Symphony, Chamber Orchestra of Europe, Vienna Symphony and the Deutsche Symphony Orchestra with whom he toured Europe. A regular recital and chamber musician, Capuçon appears in the major halls and festivals across Europe, and every year at the Verbier Festival and at Project Martha Argerich, Lugano, performing with many of the world’s leading artists such as Barenboim, Bashmet, Caussé, Kavakos, Kirchschlager, Pletnev, Pressler, Thibaudet, Znaider, his brother Renaud and many others including those with whom he has recorded (see below).
In the 13/14 season, debuts include the Concertgebouw Orchestra/Bychkov, New York Philharmonic/ Boreyko and the Staatskapelle Dresden/Eschenbach in Dresden and the Salzburg Easter Festival. Other highlights include the Munich Philharmonic/Bychkov – both in Munich and at the Enescu Festival in Bucharest – with Sydney Symphony/Bringuier, Boston Symphony/Dutoit, Chamber Orchestra of Europe/Haitink in Amsterdam, Paris and the Lucerne Festival, with Mariinsky Orchestra/Gergiev at Salle Pleyel (Paris), NHK Symphony Orchestra/Dutoit, and in China with China Philharmonic and Guangzhou Symphony. In recital, Capuçon will perform with Frank Braley in the major venues in Paris, Amsterdam, Brussels, Vienna and Seoul, and with Yuja Wang in a recital tour of Japan.
Capuçon records exclusively for Virgin Classics. His recordings include the Dvořák Concerto with Frankfurt Radio Symphony/Paavo Järvi, Tchaikovsky Rococo Variations and Prokofiev Sinfonia Concertante with Mariinsky Theatre/Gergiev, the Brahms Double Concerto with his brother Renaud and Mahler Youth Orchestra/Chung, and the Haydn Cello Concertos with Mahler Chamber Orchestra/Harding. He has recorded several discs of chamber music with Martha Argerich, Frank Braley, Nicholas Angelich, Renaud and others, and the Rachmaninov and Prokofiev Cello Sonatas with Gabriela Montero. His next releases include a recital disc of music by Schubert, Schumann, Debussy, Britten and Carter with Frank Braley, and Saint-Saëns First Cello Concerto and Muse et le poète with the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France/Bringuier, and earlier this year Deutsche Gramophone released a DVD featuring Capuçon as soloist with the Berlin Philharmonic/Dudamel in a live performance of Haydn’s first Cello Concerto.
As a partner of Gautier Capuçon, Colas co-produced, along with Virgin Classics, his latest recording with Gergiev and participated in the purchase of a Dominique Peccatte Bow. Since 2007 Gautier Capuçon has been an Ambassador for Zegna & Music project which was founded in 1997 as a philanthropic activity to promote music and its values. Gautier Capuçon plays a 1701 Matteo Goffriller.
Gautier Capuçon plays a 1701 Matteo Goffriller.
Yuja Wang
Twenty-six year old pianist Yuja Wang is widely recognized as one of the most important artists of her generation. Regularly lauded for her controlled, prodigious technique, Yuja has been praised for her authority over the most complex technical demands of the repertoire, the depth of her musical insight, as well as her fresh interpretations and charismatic stage presence.
Yuja is an exclusive recording artist for Deutsche Grammophon. Following her debut recording, Sonatas & Etudes, Gramophone magazine named Yuja the Classic FM 2009 Young Artist of the Year. For her second recording, Transformation, Yuja received an Echo Klassik award as “Young Artist of the Year”. Yuja next collaborated with Maestro Claudio Abbado and the Mahler Chamber Orchestra to record her first concerto album featuring Rachmaninoff’s Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini and his Concerto No. 2 in C minor which was nominated for a Grammy as “Best Classical Instrumental Solo.” This was followed by, Fantasia, a collection of encore pieces by Albéniz, Bach, Chopin, Rachmaninov, Saint-Saëns, Scriabin and others.
In the years since her 2005 debut with the National Arts Center Orchestra led by Pinchas Zukerman, Yuja has already performed with many of the world’s most prestigious orchestras including those of Boston, Chicago, Cleveland, Los Angeles, New York, Philadelphia, San Francisco and Washington, in the U.S., and abroad with the Berlin Staatskapelle, China Philharmonic, Filarmonica della Scala, Israel Philharmonic, London Philharmonic, Orchestre de Paris, Orquesta Nacional España, Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra, the NHK Symphony in Tokyo, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Orchestra Mozart and Santa Cecilia, among others.
In 2006 Yuja made her New York Philharmonic debut at the Bravo! Vail Music Festival and performed with the orchestra the following season under Lorin Maazel during the Philharmonic’s Japan/Korea visit. In 2008 she toured the United States with the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields led by Sir Neville Marriner, and in 2009 Yuja performed as soloist with the You Tube Symphony Orchestra led by Michael Tilson Thomas at Carnegie Hall. That summer Yuja joined Abbado at the Lucerne Music Festival performing and recording Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto No. 3, and went on to perform with the Lucerne Festival Orchestra and Abbado on tour in China.
Yuja regularly gives recitals in major cities throughout Asia, Europe and North America. She is a dedicated performer of chamber music appearing at summer festivals throughout the world including annual appearances at Switzerland’s Verbier Festival. In March 2011 Yuja performed in a three-concert chamber series at the Salle Pleyel in Paris with principal players from the Berlin Philharmonic. She made her Carnegie Hall recital debut at Stern Hall in October 2011.
Many of the world’s esteemed conductors have collaborated with Yuja including Abbado, Daniel Barenboim, Dudamel, Charles Dutoit, Daniele Gatti, Valery Gergiev, Mikko Franck, Manfred Honeck, Pietari Inkinen, Lorin Maazel, Zubin Mehta, Kurt Masur, Antonio Pappano, Yuri Temirkanov and Michael Tilson Thomas.
Last year Yuja returned to the Israel Philharmonic to work with Zubin Mehta, followed by a tour of the U.S. that included performances at Carnegie and Disney halls. She then launched into a three-week tour of Asia with the San Francisco Symphony and Tilson Thomas, traveling to Macau, China, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Japan. Yuja again joined the Berlin Philharmonic’s principal players, this time with a series of all-Brahms concerts at Salle Pleyel in Paris. In spring 2013 she was presented by the Berlin Philharmonic in recital at the Philharmonie, and returned to Carnegie Hall in both recital and a concerto appearance with the San Francisco Symphony. Her season included a recital tour of Japan where she made her Suntory Hall debut.
This season the London Symphony Orchestra have invited Yuja as their featured artist in the LSO Artist Portrait series for 2014 which includes performing three concertos, a recital and chamber music in London, followed by a tour of China with Daniel Harding conducting. She makes her debut with the Hungarian National Philharmonic conducted by Zoltan Kocsis performing Bartok’s Piano Concerto No. 2. Yuja’s frequent summer collaborations with violinist Leonidas Kavakos are extended further as they will undertake multiple tours of Europe focusing on the great violin and piano sonatas of Brahms. She returns to the Los Angeles Philharmonic for subscription concerts and on tour in the U.S. with Dudamel conducting. Yuja also returns to the Boston Symphony, Sir Andrew Davis conducting, and the Cleveland Orchestra, Giancarlo Guerrero conducting.
At a young age Yuja entered the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing to study under Ling Yuan and Zhou Guangren. From 1999 to 2001 she participated in the Morningside Music summer program at Calgary’s Mount Royal College, an artistic and cultural exchange program between Canada and China, and began studying with Hung-Kuan Chen and Tema Blackstone at the Mount Royal College Conservatory. Yuja then moved to the U.S. to study with Gary Graffman at The Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, where she graduated in 2008. In 2006 she received the Gilmore Young Artist Award, and in 2010 was awarded the prestigious Avery Fisher Career Grant. Yuja is a Steinway Artist.
