Gautier Capuçon

Gautier Capuçon is one of the foremost cello ambassadors in the 21st century.

A prolific and exclusive recording artist for Erato (Warner Classics), Capuçon has built a discography acclaimed for both its breadth and its chart-topping reach. His album Émotions (2020) reached gold status in France, topping the charts for more than 30 weeks and selling over 100,000 copies worldwide. Sensations (2022) became the first classical album to reach No. 1 in France’s all-genre charts, followed by Destination Paris (2023). His recent releases include Elgar and Walton concertos with Antonio Pappano and the London Symphony Orchestra (2024), and Gaïa (November 2025), which presents an inspired collection of world premieres by composers such as Max Richter, Bryce Dessner, Ludovico Einaudi, Joe Hisaishi, Gabriela Montero, and more.

Earlier recordings feature Shostakovich and Tchaikovsky with Valery Gergiev and the Mariinsky Orchestra, Dvořák with Paavo Järvi and the Frankfurt Radio Symphony, Saint-Saëns with Lionel Bringuier, Haydn with Daniel Harding and the Mahler Chamber Orchestra, Brahms’s Double Concerto with his brother Renaud Capuçon, Beethoven sonatas with Frank Braley, Schubert’s String Quintet with the Ébène Quartet, Rachmaninov and Prokofiev sonatas with Gabriela Montero, and collaborations with Martha Argerich, Yuja Wang, Nicholas Angelich, and many others.

On stage, Capuçon is a regular guest of the world’s foremost orchestras, including the Berlin Philharmonic, Vienna Philharmonic, Concertgebouw Orchestra, Staatskapelle Dresden, Philadelphia Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony, New York Philharmonic, and Chicago Symphony Orchestra, collaborating with conductors such as Gustavo Dudamel, Andris Nelsons, Riccardo Chailly, Semyon Bychkov, Paavo Järvi, and Yannick Nézet-Séguin. A passionate chamber musician, he partners regularly with Evgeny Kissin, Yuja Wang, Jean-Yves Thibaudet, Lisa Batiashvili, Frank Braley, the Hagen and Ébène Quartets, and his brother Renaud Capuçon.

Deeply committed to education, Capuçon created the Fondation Gautier Capuçon in 2022 to support outstanding young musicians at the start of their careers, already numbering 36 laureates. He previously founded the Classe d’Excellence de Violoncelle at the Fondation Louis Vuitton (2014), and he is an ambassador for Orchestre à l’École, which introduces orchestral music to tens of thousands of children across France. His widely celebrated outreach project Un été en France (2020–21) brought live music to more than 145,000 people in towns and villages across the country.

A household name in France, Capuçon has hosted Les carnets de Gautier Capuçon on Radio Classique, appears regularly on television, and has been a juror on France 2’s Prodiges since 2014. Born in Chambéry in 1981, Capuçon began the cello at the age of five. He studied at the Conservatoire National Supérieur in Paris with Philippe Muller and Annie Cochet-Zakine, then with Heinrich Schiff in Vienna. Early career distinctions include the International André Navarra Prize, the Borletti-Buitoni Trust Award, and several Echo Klassik awards. He plays a 1701 Matteo Goffriller cello, named "The Ambassador".