La Classe d'excellence de violoncelle - Promotion II
© Fondation Louis Vuitton / Gaël Cornier
- Date
- From 05.11.2015 to 30.06.2016
- Place
- Auditorium
The Classe d’Excellence de Violoncelle is a project during which director Gautier Capuçon transmits his insights to six talented young cellists selected by audition in France and abroad. It was first held at the Fondation Louis Vuitton from December 2014 to June 2015, taking the form of a series of monthly three-day sessions.
For its second season the Classe d’Excellence de Violoncelle once more occupies the Foundation’s Auditorium from November 2015 to the end of June 2016, with each monthly session lasting three to four days.
Each session will feature masterclasses open to the public in the morning, as well as concerts at the end of the day at which the young cellists—the eminent instrumentalists of tomorrow—will perform the pieces they are working on (programs for solo cello, sonatas for cello and piano, and concertos with piano accompaniment). Covering both artistic and professional coaching, the Classe d’Excellence de Violoncelle aims to allow the six participants to deepen their musical awareness and to understand what it takes to embark on a professional career.
In this exceptional venue devoted to the creative arts, the young talents will be immersed in an environment that promotes openness, emulation, and inspiration. As a complement to the high level of musical training they have already received, Gautier Capuçon, together with pianist Samuel Parent, acts a facilitator of interchange and innovation, accompanying them on their personal and artistic project.
the artists
Gautier Capuçon
Gautier Capuçon is truly a 21st-century ambassador for the cello. Every season, he performs with the world’s most renowned conductors and instrumentalists. Since 2014, he has also been the founder and Artistic Director of the Classe d’Excellence de Violoncelle at the Fondation Louis Vuitton in Paris. Mr Capuçon is acclaimed worldwide for his expressive musicality, virtuosity and the deep sonority of his 1701 Matteo Goffriller cello, “L’Ambassadeur”.
Mr Capuçon has recently performed with the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra, the Czech Philharmonic, the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra, the Singapore Symphony Orchestra, the Bavarian Radio Orchestra, Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra and the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra. This gave him the opportunity to collaborate with Alain Altinoglu, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Semyon Bychkov, Stéphane Denève, Valery Gergiev, Philippe Jordan, Andris Nelsons and Gianandrea Noseda. Gautier Capuçon was Artist in Residence with the Orchestra della Svizzera Italiana in Lugano.
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. He also collaborates with many contemporary composers, including Lera Auerbach, Karol Beffa, Esteban Benzecry, Nicola Campogrande, Qigang Chen, Bryce Dessner, Richard Dubugnon, Jérôme Ducros, Henri Dutilleux, Thierry Escaich, Philippe Manoury, Bruno Mantovani, Krzysztof Penderecki, Wolfgang Rihm, and Jörg Widmann. Past projects include the world premiere of Tabachnik’s cello concerto Summer, as well as collaborations with Danny Elfman and Thierry Escaich.
As a chamber musician, he is invited to perform in the world’s most superb venues and at the most renowned festivals with partners such as Nicholas Angelich, Martha Argerich, Daniel Barenboim, Lisa Batiashvili, Frank Braley, Renaud Capuçon, Jérôme Ducros, Katia and Marielle Labèque, Menahem Pressler, Jean-Yves Thibaudet, Yuja Wang and the Artemis and Ébène Quartets.
Discography: Recording exclusively for Erato (Warner Classics), Mr Capuçon has won multiple awards and boasts an extensive discography. Earlier recordings include Shostakovich with the Mariinsky Orchestra/Valery Gergiev, Saint-Saëns (Concerto No. 1 and La Muse et Le Poète) with the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France/Lionel Bringuier, Schubert’s String Quintet with the Ébène Quartet; and the complete Beethoven sonatas with Frank Braley. His latest releases include the album Intuition (February 2018) recorded with the Orchestre de Chambre de Paris/Douglas Boyd and pianist Jérôme Ducros, a live Schumann album with Martha Argerich, Renaud Capuçon, the Chamber Orchestra of Europe and Bernard Haitink (January 2019), as well as the sonatas of Chopin and Franck with pianist Yuja Wang (December 2019). Since the fall of 2019, he has been presenting Les Carnets de Gautier Capuçon on France’s Radio Classique, heard daily from 5 to 6 p.m. Mr Capuçon also appears onscreen and online in programmes such as The Artist Academy, Prodiges and Now Hear This. In 2013, Deutsche Grammophon also released a live DVD of Mr Capuçon with the Berliner Philharmoniker and Gustavo Dudamel in a performance of Haydn’s Cello Concerto No. 1.
In October 2021, to celebrate his 40th birthday, he released the three-CD album Souvenirs of iconic chamber-music works and repertoire for solo cello.
In November 2020, he released another album, Emotions, featuring transcriptions by pianist Jérôme Ducros of works by Debussy, Satie, Elgar, Schubert and Edith Piaf, with the Orchestre de Chambre de Paris and Adrien Perruchon.
His album Sensations came out in November 2022, with transcriptions of classical works, French songs, and opera arias, accompanied by Jérôme Ducros, Lucienne Renaudin Vary, Fatma Saïd, the Ensemble Capucelli, the Orchestre National de Bretagne and Johanna Malangré. In January 2021, Mr Capuçon was promoted to the rank of Chevalier in France’s Ordre National de la Légion d’Honneur.
Born in Chambéry 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.
Stéphane Tétreault
Canada
Aged 22
Canadian, lives in Montreal
Master’s in performance and cello at Montreal University in the class of the late Yuli Turovsky and of Jutta Puchhammer-Sédillot.
Winner of the first Fernand-Lindsay Career Award and of the Choquette-Symcox Prize in 2013
First prize at the Standard Life-OSM 2007 Montreal Symphonic Orchestra Competition and Radio-Canada “Revelation” for 2011-2012 for classical music.
First soloist in residence at the Orchestre Métropolitain since 2014.
Awarded travel bursaries from the Conseil des Arts et Lettres, Quebec and the Canada Council for the Arts, as well as a Career Award from the Women’s Musical Club of Toronto Foundation in 2015.
Charles Hervet
31years old (France)
Born in Burgundy, France, Charles Hervet started learning the Cello at the age of 6. In 2011, he made his Wigmore Hall debut and took part in a BBC documentary. Recent highlights include chamber music with Gautier Capuçon, Jean-Yves Thibaudet, Bertrand Chamayou, Renaud Capuçon, the Metropolitan Opera and Berliner Philharmoniker soloists. These performances have been broadcasted on BBC Radio 3, France Musique, and Radio Classique. Future engagements include performances in New York City, San Francisco, Geneva, Lausanne, Liège, Dortmund, Vienna, Milan, and Paris.
As a student, Charles was a member of the Gustav Mahler Jugendorchester, and has since then kept a profound love for orchestral playing. Over the last years, he has had the opportunity to play in world known venues such as Vienna Musikverein and Konzerthaus, Salzburg Grosses Festspielhaus and Felsenreitschule, Hamburg Elbphilharmonie, Berlin Philharmonie, Amsterdam Concertgebouw, Paris Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, London Royal Albert Hall, Royal Festival Hall and Barbican, or New York Avery Fisher Hall, and to work with great conductors and soloists like Herbert Blomstedt, Daniele Gatti, Christoph von Dohnányi, Emmanuel Krivine, Sir Antonio Pappano, Hans Graf, Sir Mark Elder, Trevor Pinnock, Philippe Jordan, Marin Alsop, Maurizio Benini, John Adams, Nikolaj Znaider, Guy Braunstein, Frank Peter Zimmermann, Joyce DiDonato, Matthew Polenzani, Leif Ove Andsnes, Emmanuel Pahud, Nicholas Angelich, or Imogen Cooper.
Over the course of his studies, Charles Hervet trained on a regular basis with Gautier Capuçon, Colin Carr, or Mario Brunello, and took part in masterclasses with Truls Mørk, Steven Isserlis, Gary Hoffman, Wolfgang Boettcher, Christian Poltera, Reinhard Latzko, Konstantin Pfiz, David Watkin and Christophe Coin. In chamber music he got advices from Christopher Richter, Thomas Brandis, Ian Brown, the Škampa, Wihan, Artis, or Allegri Quartets in masterclasses in London or Manchester sponsored by the Wigmore Hall Trust.
Charles Hervet graduated with a Bachelor of Music and a Master of Arts from the Royal Academy of Music and is a laureate of Gautier Capuçon’s Classe d’Excellence at the Fondation Louis Vuitton.
Marion Platero
France
Aged 25
French, lives in Madrid (ES)
Holder of a Master’s in cello (at the highest grade, cum laude, unanimously awarded by the jury) at the CNSMD in Paris
Student at the Escuela Superior de Musica Reina Sofia in Madrid in the class of Natalia Shakhovskaya and Ivan Monighetti, with a distinction from Queen Sofia of Spain
Awarded a grant from the Mécénat Musical Société Générale in 2009, second prize at the Carlos Prieto International Cello Competition (Morelia, Mexico) “Révélation Classique” ADAMI 2009
Joona Pulkkinen
Finland
25 years
Finnish, living in Tampere (FI)
Student at the Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel in Belgium in the class of Gary Hoffman
3rd Prize at the Turku National Cello Competition
Solo cello at the Tampere Philharmonic Orchestra since September 2014
Instrument by Giovanni Grancino from 1698, kindly loaned by the Pohjola Bank Art Foundation
Armance Quéro
France
Aged 26
French, lives in Paris (FR)
CNSMD Paris diploma in 2012 (unanimously awarded first prize, the first so acknowledged), in the class of Roland Pidoux and of Xavier Phillips
Grant holder from the Adami and the Mécénat Musical Société Générale for 2012-2013
Award winner at the Fondation Safran (2015) and Fondation de France (2014) for a recording project centring on the French sonata around 1915
Third prize at the International Music Competition Belgrade in 2010
Julia Hagen
27 years old (Austria)
Cellist Julia Hagen, born in Salzburg in 1995, is one oAf the most promising instrumentalists of her generation. At the age of 5 she received her first lessons from Detlef Mielke at the Musikum Salzburg. She went on to study at the Salzburg Mozarteum with Enrico Bronzi, at the University of Vienna with Reinhard Latzko and from 2013 to 2015 with legendary cellist Heinrich Schiff. In 2015 the young musician moved to Berlin to continue her studies under Jens Peter Maintz at the Universität der Künste. She is currently a scholarship holder of the Kronberg Academy, where she is working with Wolfgang Emanuel Schmidt.
Julia Hagen made her debut at the Brucknerhaus Linz at the age of 14, playing as soloist with the Vienna Jeunesse Orchestra. Since then she has played extensively throughout Europe and Japan, including in venues like the Wiener Konzerthaus (where she was a Great Talent in the 2019/20 and 2020/21 seasons), Wiener Musikverein, Tonhalle Zürich, Barbican Hall and Suntory Hall. She has performed with the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin, Konzerthausorchester Berlin, Tonhalle- Orchester Zürich, Mozarteumorchester Salzburg, City of Birmingham Orchestra, Orchestra del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, I Pommerigi Musicali and the Kremerata Baltica, and has worked with conductors such as Ivor Bolton, Sir Andrew Davis, Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla, Ingo Metzmacher, Markus Poschner, James Feddeck, Kristiina Poska and Giedrė Šlekytė. As a chamber musician, she has performed regularly with Igor Levit, Alexander Lonquich, Aaron Pilsan, Annika Treutler, Florian Boesch, Renaud Capuçon, Tobias Feldmann, Thomas Reif, Gérard Caussé, Clemens Hagen, Dominik Wagner as well as the Armida and Artemis Quartets.
In season 2022/23, she continues her close artistic partnership with the Bruckner Orchestra Linz with concerts in Linz and Montreux. Other highlights include concerts with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra under Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla (Shostakovich Cello Concerto No. 2), Vancouver Symphony Orchestra under Joshua Weilerstein (Haydn Cello Concerto in C major), Orchestra della Svizzera italiana under Krzysztof Urbański (Dvorak Cello Concerto), Sofia Philharmonic under Nayden Todorov (Shostakovich Cello Concerto No. 1), Göttingen Symphony Orchestra under Nicholas Milton (Elgar Cello Concerto) and a tour in France with the Orchestre de Chambre de Nouvelle Aquitaine together with Renaud Capuçon (Beethoven Triple Concerto). In chamber music, she will perform with Clemens Hagen on a Japan tour, Igor Levit and Johan Dalene (Heidelberger Frühling), Alexander Ullman as well as the Quatuor Arod, the Hagen Quartet and Gautier Capuçon's cello ensemble, Capucelli, among others. Since the 2021/22 season, she is also part of the debut programme of the Nikolaisaal Potsdam.
Between 2014 and 2016, Julia Hagen was one of six carefully selected young cellists who took part in the Classe d’Excellence de Violoncelle taught by Gautier Capuçon and supported by the Louis Vuitton Foundation. Masterclasses with Gábor Takács-Nagy, Pamela Frank, Lawrence Power, Nobuko Imai, Torleif Thedéen, Laurence Lesser and Claudio Bohorquez round off her training. She is a prize winner of the international cello competition in Liezen and the Mazzacurati cello competition. She received the Hajek-Boss-Wagner Culture Prize, as well as the Nicolas-Firmenich Prize of the Verbier Festival Academy.
In 2019 Julia Hagen and her long-time chamber music partner, pianist Annika Treutler, released their first album with the two cello sonatas and transcribed songs by Johannes Brahms on Hänssler Classic. Julia Hagen plays a cello by Francesco Ruggieri (Cremona, 1684), which is provided to her privately.
Relive the masterclasses
5 November 2015 Cello Masterclass Season 2 - Gautier Capuçon (first session)
19 and 20 December 2015 Cello Masterclass Season 2 - Gautier Capuçon (second session)
7 and 8 February 2016 Cello Masterclass Season 2 - Gautier Capuçon (third session)
7 and 9 March 2016 Cello Masterclass Season 2 - Gautier Capuçon (fourth session)
7 & 8 May 2016 Cello Masterclass Season 2 - Gautier Capuçon (fifth session)
