Renaud Capuçon’s 50th Birthday Tour
23rd-31st January 2026

It was on 9th January 1999 that the COE first performed with a young Renaud Capuçon at the Cité de la musique in Paris under the direction of Myung-Whun Chung. For the past 27 years, our friendship has developed into a special relationship, performing together with world-class conductors in major concert halls and festivals throughout Europe, including the Festival de Pâques in Aix-en-Provence, at the Sommets Musicaux in Gstaad and at the Rencontres Musicales in Evian, where Renaud is artistic director. Renaud and some COE soloists also performed at the Fondation Louis Vuitton in Paris where, like at one of his Carte Blanche concerts in Aix, Renaud sat within the orchestra, directing from the Leader’s seat. It is a great joy that Renaud has chosen to celebrate his 50th birthday (on 23rd January) with the COE and we are looking forward to performing three different programmes in Austria, France and Switzerland with him and other amazing artists: Martha Argerich, Gautier Capuçon and Clara-Jumi Kang. In Gstaad, Renaud will be joined by the COE’s principal viola Pascal Siffert in Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante. Interestingly, our concert together in Paris on 27th January will be our 40th concert together. Unfortunately, not quite our 50th…

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 Boulez, Ozawa, Welser-Möst and Claudio Abbado.

For a full biography of Renaud, please visit Intermusica’s website.

Regarded as one of the most outstanding violinists of her generation, Clara-Jumi Kang is celebrated for her exceptional musicality, technical mastery, and artistic depth. She has received numerous awards and accolades, including First Prize at the 2010 Indianapolis International Violin Competition, along with five additional special prizes.

In the 25/26 season, Kang is Artist-in-Residence with the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra. As part of her residency, she will perform concerti by Lalo, Shostakovich and Bernstein with Chief Conductor Ryan Bancroft. Other highlights of the 25/26 season include her subscription debut with the London Symphony Orchestra at the Barbican, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, tour with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe, and the Philharmonia Orchestra on their Korean tour. She will also make her debut at Walt Disney Concert Hall for a duo recital as part of their celebrity series alongside regular partner Sunwook Kim. Elsewhere in the season she will perform with the BBC Philharmonic, Iceland Symphony, Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte-Carlo, Houston Symphony, Hamburg Symphony at the Elbphilharmonie, the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, amongst others.

For a full biography of Clara-Jumi Kang, please visit the Intermusica website.

Pascal Siffert joined the Chamber Orchestra of Europe as a member in 1990 and was invited to become Principal Viola in 2001. Of his time with the COE, Pascal keeps particularly fond memories of his projects with Nikolaus Harnoncourt, such as the Beethoven Symphonies, Ma Vlast at Styriarte 2010, the recording of Dvorak’s Slavonic Dances, the Schumann symphony cycle and Genoveva. He was also part of the Sibelius and Brahms’ symphony cycles under the direction of Paavo Berglund and the Beethoven and Brahms symphony cycles with Bernard Haitink.

Having studied with Marianne Baumann at the Fribourg Conservatoire, Sandor Vegh at the Salzburg Mozarteum, Keiko Wataya and Charles-André Linale at the Conservatory of Utrecht, Pascal took masterclasses with Thomas Riebl and Rainer Moog.

Pascal was a member of the Salzburg Camerata between 1992 and 1997, and during that time also performed regularly with the Ensemble Modern in Frankfurt. He played with the Ensemble Pyramide in Zürich between 1989 and 1995 and continues to play with the new Zetterqvist quartet.

In 1996 Pascal moved to Stockholm and has been principal viola of the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra since 2002.

Since 2021 Pascal feels privileged to coach the viola section of the European Union Youth Orchestra (EUYO) for their summer tour.