Classe d'Excellence de Violoncelle - Promotion III
- Date
- From 01.11.2016 to 07.06.2017
- Place
- Auditorium
The “Classe d’Excellence de Violoncelle”, under the direction of Gautier Capuçon, is geared towards six young talented cellists selected on the basis of an application dossier and live audition in France and abroad. The first two editions took place on a monthly basis at the Fondation Louis Vuitton, for a series of three-day sessions for six months.
For its third season, the “Classe d’Excellence de Violoncelle” returns to the Fondation auditorium from November 2016 and until June 2017.
Each monthly session is made of daily lessons with Gautier Capuçon, and includes public masterclasses and a one and a half hour long public concert during which time participants will have the opportunity to present their work (programs consist of solo cello pieces, cello and piano sonatas, concertos accompanied with piano).
The “Classe d’Excellence de Violoncelle,” made up of a series of artistic and professional coaching sessions, offers participants a comprehensive training opportunity intended to complement participants’ formal musical education. Bathed in the atmosphere of intense creativity generated by this singular venue, the project aims to be a source of inspiration and stimulation. Gautier Capuçon, as mediator and mentor, will encourage exchange and innovation, and will accompany each participant in his or her personal artistic journey.
the artists
Gautier Capuçon
Gautier Capuçon is one today’s foremost ambassadors – as both musician and mentor – for the cello. Every season, he performs with the world’s most renowned conductors and instrumentalists. In January 2022, furthering his commitment to teaching and mentoring young artists, he established his own foundation to provide up-and-coming musicians with a springboard for their professional pursuits. To date, the Fondation Gautier Capuçon has supported 36 budding cellists. Mr Capuçon is acclaimed worldwide for his remarkably expressive musicality, great virtuosity and the deep sonority of his 1701 Matteo Goffriller cello, “L’Ambassadeur”.
During the Covid pandemic, following the end of the first lockdown in the summer of 2020, Mr Capuçon set off on a special tour, Un été en France (A Summer in France) – a musical journey that allowed families across the country to attend live concerts. He arranged another such tour the following year, this time inviting young instrumentalists and dancers to join him on stage. Following such success, the initiative has continued and, to date, has drawn over 145,000 spectators to 80 concerts held in 66 towns and villages in France, giving 69 emerging artists the chance to share the stage and spotlight at his side. The tour has been the subject of five documentaries, the most recent of which aired between Christmas and New Year’s Eve 2025.
Highlights of his orchestral collaborations in recent seasons include concerts with the Vienna Philharmonic conducted by Christian Thielemann, Andris Nelsons and the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, the Philadelphia Orchestra led by Stéphane Denève, the Hong Kong Philharmonic and Christoph Koncz, as well as tours with the Filarmonica della Scala conducted by Riccardo Chailly, the Frankfurt Radio Symphony (hr-Sinfonieorchester) under Alain Altinoglu and the Rotterdam Philharmonic with conductor Lahav Shani.
He recently toured across Europe and performed at Carnegie Hall with Evgeny Kissin, as well as with Rudolf Buchbinder, Renaud Capuçon and Nikolaj Szeps-Znaider. Each year, in his capacity as a chamber musician, he is invited to perform with partners such as Martha Argerich, Daniel Barenboim, Lisa Batiashvili, Frank Braley, Renaud Capuçon, Jérôme Ducros, Katia and Marielle Labèque, Menahem Pressler, Jean-Yves Thibaudet and Yuja Wang, as well as with celebrated quartets, including the Quatuors Artemis, Ébène, Hagen and Modigliani.
Gautier Capuçon also founded the Capucelli ensemble alongside six young cellists, graduates of his “Classe d’Excellence de Violoncelle”, an audition-based mentoring programme. Capucelli has performed across Europe and in Taiwan.
The 2025/26 season took Mr Capuçon on tour with the Berliner Philharmoniker and conductor Kirill Petrenko. He also enjoyed a residency with the Sächsische Staatskapelle Dresden and performed with the hr-Sinfonieorchester Frankfurt for the openings of the Dvořák Prague Festival and the George Enescu Festival in Bucharest. Further, he performed with the Orchestre de Paris under Andrés Orozco-Estrada, the San Francisco Symphony led by Simone Young and the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich conducted by Paavo Järvi.
Over the course of his career, Mr Capuçon has forged many deep and lasting musical friendships. He is invited each season to play with the greatest orchestras, including the Philharmonic Orchestras of Berlin, Vienna, Los Angeles and New York, as well as the Chicago, San Francisco and London Symphony Orchestras. He works with conductors such as Lionel Bringuier, Myung-Whun Chung, Gustavo Dudamel, Charles Dutoit, Christoph Eschenbach, Paavo Järvi, Andris Nelsons, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Andrés Orozco-Estrada and Tugan Sokhiev.
Memorable moments in chamber music include Mr Capuçon’s concerts with pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet and violinist Lisa Batiashvili, as well as a performance tour with pianist Nikolai Lugansky.
He also collaborates with many contemporary composers, including Lera Auerbach, Karol Beffa, Esteban Benzecry, Nicola Campogrande, Qigang Chen, Bryce Dessner, Richard Dubugnon, Henri Dutilleux, Jérôme Ducros, Danny Elfman, Thierry Escaich, Joe Hisaishi, Philippe Manoury, Bruno Mantovani, Andrew Norman, Krzysztof Penderecki, Max Richter, Wolfgang Rihm and Jörg Widmann.
Recording exclusively for Erato (Warner Music), Mr Capuçon has won many awards for his extensive and varied discography. Following his album Intuition, his 2020 release, Émotions, featuring works by composers such as Debussy, Schubert and Elgar, topped the sales charts for over 30 weeks, with more than 100,000 copies sold worldwide, and was certified gold in France. In 2022, his subsequent album, entitled Sensations, became the first classical recording to reach number one on the all-genre charts in France. It was followed by Destination Paris in 2023, focused on works dedicated to France’s capital. After his album Elgar & Walton: Cello Concertos, recorded with Antonio Pappano and the London Symphony Orchestra and released in autumn 2024, Mr Capuçon created an album inspired by world premieres, Gaïa, in November 2025. Bringing together works by leading-edge musical minds such as Max Richter, Bryce Dessner, Ludovico Einaudi, Gabriela Montero, Joe Hisaishi and Nico Muhly, the album was presented in concert with the San Francisco Symphony in November 2025.
His previous recordings include the Shostakovich concertos with Valery Gergiev and the Mariinsky Orchestra, works by Saint-Saëns with the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France led by Lionel Bringuier, the complete Beethoven sonatas with pianist Frank Braley, Schubert’s String Quintet in C Major with the Quatuor Ébène, Intuition with the Orchestre de Chambre de Paris under Douglas Boyd, as well as live recordings with Martha Argerich, Renaud Capuçon and the Chamber Orchestra of Europe under Bernard Haitink. He also recorded Beethoven’s piano trios with Renaud Capuçon and Frank Braley, sonatas composed by Franck and Chopin with Yuja Wang, as well as a solo album, Souvenirs, with works by Bach, Dutilleux and Kodály alongside a greatest-hits collection, forming a three-disc set released especially for his 40th birthday. Mr Capuçon’s most recent album, Gaïa, features sixteen works – inspired by nature and the Earth – written for him by composers from a broad cultural spectrum.
Gautier Capuçon also appears on a number of live DVDs, such as his performance of Haydn’s Cello Concerto No. 1 with the Berlin Philharmonic under Gustavo Dudamel, and that of Brahms’s Double Concerto with Lisa Batiashvili and the Staatskapelle Dresden conducted by Christian Thielemann.
In addition to his myriad performance commitments, the cellist is an ambassador for the “Orchestre à l’École” non-profit organisation, bringing music to young people in school settings through learning programmes lasting three to four years. Today, there are 1,630 school orchestras composed of some 44,000 children spread across the near-entirety of France. Since its founding, more than 184,000 students have benefitted from this initiative.
In January 2021, Mr Capuçon was promoted to the rank of Chevalier in France’s Ordre National de la Légion d’Honneur.
From 2019 through 2025, he hosted Les Carnets de Gautier Capuçon, a popular programme broadcast weekdays from 5 to 6 p.m. on France’s Radio Classique. An established celebrity in his home country, he frequently makes television appearances and has served as a judge on the France 2 television show Prodiges since the programme’s inception in 2014, a broadcast that annually draws more than three million viewers over the year-end holiday season.
Born in Chambéry, France, in 1981, Gautier Capuçon began playing the cello at the age of five with Augustin Lefèbvre and studied in Paris with Annie Cochet-Zakine, Philippe Muller, then in Vienna with Heinrich Schiff. He has been awarded several first prizes in international competitions, including the Premier Grand Prix at the Concours International André Navarra in Toulouse.
Samuel Parent
Samuel Parent est né en 1982 dans le Vaucluse.
Après avoir étudié avec Michel Bourdoncle à Aix-en-Provence, puis Olivier Gardon à Paris, il est admis en 2000 dans la classe de Brigitte Engerer au Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris, dont il sort quatre ans plus tard avec un diplôme de Formation Supérieure, mention très bien.
En 2008, il remporte le deuxième prix au concours international Rina Sala Gallo de Monza, Italie. Cette même année, il intègre la classe de musique de chambre du quatuor Artemis à la Chapelle Musicale Reine Elisabeth de Belgique.
Pendant une quinzaine d'années, Samuel Parent a été le pianiste du Trio con Fuoco, ensemble récompensé dans plusieurs concours internationaux (Illzach, Florence, Heerlen...) et au sein duquel il s'est produit dans de nombreux festivals (Aix-en-Provence, la Roque d'Anthéron, Flâneries musicales de Reims) et sur la scène mondiale : concerts à l'Auditorium du Louvre, au Bozar de Bruxelles, à l'Auditorium de Dijon, au Maroc, en Espagne, aux Pays-Bas, en Inde, en Amérique Centrale...
Chambriste recherché, Samuel Parent se produit avec de nombreux artistes tels que Gautier Capuçon, le quatuor Ebène, Hugues Borsarello, le quatuor Van Kuijk, Henri Demarquette, Olivier Patey, Erik Berchot, Ami Flammer, Frédéric Aguessy, Emmanuel Christien, Mathilde Borsarello-Herrmann, Karen Vourc'h, Mari Eriksmoen... Il a ainsi été invité dans des cadres prestigieux comme le Palais de la Musique à Valencia, les Sommets Musicaux de Gstaad ou la saison musicale de Schloss Elmau. En France, Samuel Parent a joué notamment au festival Pianoscope à Beauvais, au Festival de Colmar, au Festival de Chambord, Musique en Côte Basque, au Printemps de la Grange au Lac, à la salle Gaveau, au théâtre du Châtelet à Paris.
Samuel Parent se distingue également pour ses talents d'accompagnateur : depuis janvier 2014, il est le pianiste de Yanowski qu'il accompagne dans son tour de chant « la Passe Interdite ». Il est régulièrement invité dans diverses académies estivales pour apporter son soutien à de nombreux étudiants. Depuis 2015, il est le pianiste accompagnateur de la classe d'Excellence de Violoncelle de Gautier Capuçon à la Fondation Louis Vuitton à Paris. En 2019, Samuel Parent est l'un des accompagnateurs officiels du Concours Musical Reine Elisabeth à Bruxelles.
Samuel Parent se distingue également pour ses talents d'accompagnateur : depuis janvier 2014, il est le pianiste de Yanowski qu'il accompagne dans son tour de chant « la Passe Interdite ». Il est régulièrement invité dans diverses académies estivales pour apporter son soutien à de nombreux étudiants. Depuis 2015, il est le pianiste accompagnateur de la classe d'Excellence de Violoncelle de Gautier Capuçon à la Fondation Louis Vuitton à Paris. En 2019, Samuel Parent est l'un des accompagnateurs officiels du Concours Musical Reine Elisabeth à Bruxelles.Samuel Parent se distingue également pour ses talents d'accompagnateur : depuis janvier 2014, il est le pianiste de Yanowski qu'il accompagne dans son tour de chant « la Passe Interdite ». Il est régulièrement invité dans diverses académies estivales pour apporter son soutien à de nombreux étudiants. Depuis 2015, il est le pianiste accompagnateur de la classe d'Excellence de Violoncelle de Gautier Capuçon à la Fondation Louis Vuitton à Paris. En 2019, Samuel Parent est l'un des accompagnateurs officiels du Concours Musical Reine Elisabeth à Bruxelles.
Margarita Balanas
Latvia
23 years old. Latvian, lives in London (UK)
Latvian cellist Margarita Balanas made her debut at Wigmore Hall at the age of 17 and has since appeared in most of the major concert halls across the UK and Europe.
Recent performances include a debut recital at the Royal Festival Hall with pianist Vassilis Varvaresos, participation in the Piatigorsky International Cello Festival 2016 in Los Angeles and a performance of Tchaikovsky's Rococo Variations with Orquestra Sinfonica do Porto and Carlos Izcaray at Casa da Música, Portugal. She has collaborated with Trevor Pinnock, Murray Perahia, Paul Daniel, Sir Peter Maxwell Davies, and has performed in masterclasses with Lynn Harrell, Ralph Kirshbaum, Steven Isserlis, Natalia Gutman, Frans Helmerson and Mischa Maisky.
She is a recording artist for ABRSM as well as being an active chamber musician, having appeared in International Musicians Seminar Prussia Cove, French Chamber Music Festival, Roman River Music Festival, Adelaide International Cello Festival, Minoa Palace Chamber Music Festival and Aurora Chamber Music Festival. She regularly performs with her sister violinist Kristine Balanas. In summer 2015 she toured Finland with the contemporary ensemble ÄÄninen.
Margarita began her musical studies at age six with Arvids Tareila and Maris Villeruss at Emils Darzins School of Music in Riga, Latvia, before studying at the Purcell School of Music with Alexander Boyarsky. Margarita was awarded the ABRSM Scholarship, Zara Nelsova Award and Martin Music Scholarship Fund Award to undertake her undergraduate studies at the Royal Academy of Music where since 2013 she studies under Mats Lidström. In 2016 Margarita was awarded the Drake Calleja Trust Scholarship.
Sophia Bacelar
United States of America
20 years old. American, lives in Berlin (DE)
Cuban-Chinese cellist Sophia Bacelar was born in 1996 and began her musical studies at the age of two.
At the age of ten, she was accepted to The Juilliard School, where she studied under the tutelage of Clara Kim for six years. After graduating in 2012, Sophia went on to further her studies at Le Conservatoire National Supérieur de Paris in the class of Philippe Muller, from which she graduated in 2014.
Additionally, she was one of Bernard Greenhouse’s last private students and visited him regularly for musical mentorship throughout several years.Sophia has appeared as both a soloist and chamber musician throughout Europe, America, and Asia in various prestigious venues such as Victoria Hall, Le Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, Cité de la Musique, Carnegie Hall, and Alice Tully Hall. She regularly participates and performs in several renowned festivals, including The Kronberg Academy Cello Festival, The Seiji Ozawa International Academy, and The Piatigorsky International Cello Festival. She is also a scholarship recipient at the The Internationale Musikakademie in the Principality of Liechtenstein.
Throughout the years, Sophia has had the opportunity to work with and receive coaching from many esteemed performers, conductors, and pedagogues such as Seiji Ozawa, Matthias Pintscher, Lawrence Foster, David Geringas, Lynn Harrell, Mischa Maisky, Gary Hoffman, Frans Helmerson, Jens Peter Maintz, Sadao Harada, Michel Strauss, Jian Wang, Laszló Fenyö, Ami Flammer, Pamela Frank, Nobuko Imai, Claire Désert, and Fabio Bidini. Sophia plays on a 1914 Giulio Degani cello restored by her father, luthier Alejandro Bacelar.
Cameron Crozman
Canada
21 years old. Canadian, lives in Paris (FR)
Cameron Crozman is quickly being hailed as one of Canada’s leading young cellists. Playing on the ca. 1696 “Bonjour” Stradivarius cello and the ca. 1830 “Shaw” Adam cello bow generously on loan from the Canada Council for the Arts Instrument Bank, he has been recognized for his musical expressivity, versatility, and remarkable technique.
He performs around the world in such prestigious venues as the Shanghai Oriental Arts Centre, the Philharmonie de Paris, and Canada’s National Arts Centre. Regularly invited to appear at festivals such as the Ottawa International Chamber Music Festival, the Festival de violoncelle de Beauvais, and Musica Nova Helsinki, Cameron plays alongside eminent musicians including James Ehnes, Martin Beaver, André Laplante, Denis Pascal, and Huw Watkins.In 2016, Cameron received his Prix de Violoncelle with highest honours from the Conservatoire de Paris in the class of Michel Strauss and Guillaume Paoletti, He is currently pursuing an Artist Diploma in contemporary repertoire and creation at the Conservatory, as well studies in chamber music in the class of Claire Désert and Ami Flammer. He has participated in numerous international competitions, and is a laureate of both the OSM Standard Life and Eckhardt-Gramatté competitions. He has played in masterclasses for legendary cellists, including Janos Starker, Anner Bylsma, Lawrence Lesser, Tsuyoshi Tsutsumi, Gary Hoffman, and Colin Carr. Passionate about collaborating with contemporary composers, Cameron is particularly devoted to the promotion of Canadian music. He is very grateful to the Canada Council for the Arts and the Sylva Gelber Foundation for the support in his various projects.
Sol Daniel Kim
Austria
25 years old. Austrian, lives in Berlin (DE)
The Austrian cellist Sol Daniel Kim started paying the cello at the age of six. In 2000 at the age of 9, he started to study as a young student in the "University of music and performing arts Vienna" with Christine Vitoux-Erben. Since then he had the privilege to study with cellists such as Valentin Erben, Heinrich Schiff, Jens Peter Maintz and Danjulo Ishizaka.
He earned his Bachelor title at the "University of music and performing arts Vienna" and his Master title at the "University of Arts Berlin" both graduating with distinction. He has won several prizes at international competitions such as the 48th Markneukirchen International Instrumental Competition in 2013 and he was the representant of Austria at the Eurovision Young Musicians Contest in 2008. In 2007 he entered the UBS Verbier Festival Orchestra at the age of 16 and in 2014 he got a 1 year contract as a cellist at the Symphony Orchestra of the Bavarian Broadcasting station (Bayerischer Rundfunk BR).
He gave his debut concert in 2009 at the "Wiener Konzerthaus" and has an active career as a soloist since then, playing also with many orchestras around the world such as the Graz Philharmonics, Spirit of Europe, recreation - Grosses Orchester Graz and the Südwestdeutsche Philharmonie Konstanz.
Laura Szabo
Hungaria
23 years old. Hungarian, lives in Vaskut (HG)
Born in 1993 in Baja, Hungary, Laura Szabo began studying cello at the age of six. At eleven years old, she joined the Kecskemét Kodály Music School, under the tutelage of Martha Agócs.
During her time at the Kodály School, she gathered many top prizes in both National and International competitions, including First Prize at the 2010 David Popper International Cello Competition in Várpalota, Hungary; the International Competition in Liezen, Austria (2008); the Janos Starker National Competition in Kecskemét, Hungary; the 2007 Gorizia International Competition in Gorizia, Italy; the Antonio Janigro International Competition in Porec, Croatia (2006); and the "Talents for Europe” Internationl Cello Competition in Dolni Kubin, Slovakia, also in 2006.
Laura made her orchestral debut at the age of 15 with the Szekszard Chamber Orchestra in Szekszard, Hungary. In 2009, she performed the Hidas Frigyes Cello Concerto with the Pecs Wind Orchestra at the Palace of the Arts in Budapest. In summer of 2008 and 2010, Laura won a scholarship to study at the University of Indiana in Bloomington, where she had the opportunity to work with such renowned artists as Janos Starker, Susan Moses, Csaba Onczay, and Daniel Morgenstein.
In September 2010, Laura joined Natalia Shakhovskaya’s class at the prestigious Escuela Superior de Musica Reina Sofia in Madrid, Spain. Along with Professor Shakhovskaya’s coaching, Laura has participated in masterclasses with Frans Helmerson, Phillip Muller, Natalia Guttman, David Geringas and Truls Mork. At the age of 18, Laura performed Dvořák Cello Concerto with the Kecskemét Symphonic Orchestra in Hungary.
In the summer of 2011 and 2014, she participated in the Encuentro de Musica y Academia Santander and had the opportunity to play together with artists such as Zakhar Bron, Ana Chumachenco and Wolfram Christ.
Cornelius Zirbo
Romania
17 years old. Romanian, lives in Cluj (RO)
Cornelius Zirbo studies at "Dinu Lipatti” National Highschool of Arts in Bucharest with prof. Octavian Lup. Untill now he worked with many famous cellists such as Frans Helmerson, Götz Teutsch, Emeric Kostyák, Rãzvan Suma, Marin Cazacu, Jan-Erik Gustafsson, Maximillian Hornung, Mihai Marica, Wendy Warner, Romain Garioud, Jacob A. Shaw.
He participated at SoNoRo– Interferences in 2014 at Portul Cultural Cetate (Romania) and in 2015 at Bad-Endorf (Germany). He has given concerts in a tour in South Bohemian Festival 2016 (Czech Republc). In July 2016 he was selected as active student to Frans Helmerson's masterclass in Montepulciano, Italy. He has also participated at the Cello Masterclass at Kronberg Academy.
He is a laureate of many competitions in homeland and abroad, for instance International Competition "Concertino Praga" (Czech Republic), International Cello Competition "Antonio Janigro" (Croatia), International Competition "Young Virtuosos"(Bulgaria), "Mihail Jora" Competition (Romania) etc.
He performed as soloist with orchestra such as: Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra, "Transilvania" State Philharmonic, The Princess Margareta of Romania Foundation Youth Orchestra, "JUNIOR" Romanian National Orchestra and in December 2016 Cornelius will perform Elgar Cello Concerto in e minor with "Moldova" State Philharmonic.
He is a scholar of The Princess Margareta of Romania Foundation.
The programme
Public masterclasses
- Friday 6 January 2017: from 12:30 p.m. to 2:30 p.m.
- Saturday 7 January 2017: from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.
- Friday 24 February 2017: from 12:30 p.m. to 2:30 p.m.
- Saturday 25 February 2017: from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.
- Saturday 18 and Sunday 19 March 2017: from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.
- Saturday 15 and Sunday 16 April 2017: from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.
- Monday 5 and Wednesday 7 June 2017: from 12:30 p.m. to 2:30 p.m.
Concerts
- Saturday 7 January 2017: from 5 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.
- Saturday 25 February 2017: from 5 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.
- Sunday 19 March 2017: from 5 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.
- Sunday 16 April 2017: from 5 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.
- Wednesday 7 June 2017 – 8h30 p.m.: Closing concert with Gautier Capuçon, Samuel Parent and the 6 laureates. The programme will include the creation of the piece for 7 cellos by Bruno Mantovani (Commission of the Fondation Louis Vuitton).
Promotion 3
Sol Daniel Kim & Laura Szabo
Margarita Balanas & Cameron Crozman
Sophia Baclar & Cornelius Zirbo
