Paul Zientara

About

Nominated at the age of 20 for Classic Revelation of ADAMI 2021, Paul Zientara has won prizes at international competitions including 3rd prize of the prestigious Lionel Tertis Competition on the Isle of Man, Grand Prize of the Safran Foundation, 1st prize of the Epernay String Competition, 3rd prize of the Autumn Musical Festival of Young Performers.

He began viola at the age of 7 with Yves Pruvot at the Yerres Conservatory. After two years at the CRR in Paris in the class of Françoise Gnéri, he was admitted aged 16 to the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris in the class of Sabine Toutain and Christophe Gaugué.

Paul had the opportunity to improve in masterclasses including with Tabea Zimmermann, Gérard Caussé, Tatjana Masurenko, Lawrence Power, Nobuko Imai, Bruno Pasquier, Nils Mönkemeyer, Claire Désert, the Ebene Quartet, Laurent Korcia. He regularly participates in international academies and masterclasses including the Kronberg Academy Festival (for which he was recommended by Tabea Zimmermann), Anton Rubinstein Academy in Düsseldorf, International Musikakademie of Liechtenstein and others.

His debut as a soloist was in the Bartók Concerto with the Pasdeloup Orchestra at the age of 16, followed by others with orchestras such as the Orchestre de la Garde Républicaine, the Colonne Orchestra and Nouvelle Europe. In 2022 he performed as a soloist in Mozart’s Concertante Symphony for violin and viola with Renaud Capuçon and the Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse.

Paul’s chamber music partners include Renaud Capuçon, Gérard Caussé, Nelson Goerner, Valeriy Sokolov, François Salque, Pierre Fouchenneret, Jérôme Pernoo, Marc Coppey, Adam Laloum, Emmanuel Strosser, Adrien Boisseau, Liya Petrova, Adrien La Marca, Jérôme Ducros, Jérémy Menuhin, Victor Julien-Laferrière and Nicolas Baldeyrou. He regularly plays in duet with organist Vincent Warnier who recently composed « Legend », a work for viola and organ of which Paul is the dedicatee. They interpreted its creation in October 2020.

He has performed at the Festival de La Roque-d’Anthéron, the Festival de Pâques of Aix-en-Provence, Deauville, and Colmar, the Festival de la Grange de Meslay, the Centre de Musique de Chambre de Paris, the Pianissimes, the Festival Idéal au Potager du Roi de Versailles, the Pablo Casals Festival in Prades…
In November 2021, he was invited by Renaud Capuçon to the Nouveaux Horizons festival where he performed contemporary creations including a work by Diana Soh as a viola duo with Gérard Caussé.

In 2021, Michel Le Naour devoted an article to him in Classica magazine, and in 2022, Benoît Fauchet in Diapason magazine. It also appears in other media such as France Musique, the newspaper of Radio Classique, Le Figaro, C8, Arte Concert, Ouest-France.

Paul is a member of the Phantasy Quartet with Oboe, the Atlas Duo in the Young Talent Association with Vassily Chmykov and the collective created by Emmanuel Coppey, Paris Youth Music Society.
He joined Beau Soir Productions from its creation, which allowed him to work with Renaud Capuçon and his teams.

Paul plays on Patrick Robin’s viola, funded by the Safran Foundation for Music, at the initiative of the TALENTS & VIOLON’CELLES association.