Amaury Coetaux

Hailed by The Strad as an ‘exceptionally sensitive and poetic’ musician, the French violinist Amaury Coeytaux has won universal praise for his profound interpretations filled with artistic grace and sensibility. An established soloist and chamber musician, he has carved out a unique niche as one of the most multi-talented and versatile artists across the globe.

Alongside his career as a soloist, Amaury Coeytaux was leader of the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France from 2012 to 2017, having occupied the same post with the Orchestre d’Auvergne from 2008 to 2012. The dual role of concertmaster and soloist has led him to direct many concerts from the leader’s desk, and he continues to combine conducting and performing in his current engagements.

In 2016 he joined the Quatuor Modigliani as first violin. The quartet’s established career on the international scene has led to invitations to perform in some of the foremost concert venues around the world. He performs on a 1773 Guadagnini violin.

Geoffroy Couteau

Brahms has always fascinated Geoffroy Couteau. After winning First Prize at the International Johannes Brahms Competition in 2005, he went on to record the composer’s complete solo piano works for La Dolce Volta. The specialist press unanimously acknowledged this extraordinary discographical venture by categorising it among the finest recordings of the year 2016.

Geoffroy Couteau has appeared in some of the world’s most prestigious venues, including the Main Auditorium of the Forbidden City Concert Hall in Beijing, the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, the Cidade das Artes in Rio de Janeiro, the Auditorium of the Musée d’Orsay, the Philharmonie de Paris, the Maison de Radio France, the Salle Gaveau and the Grand Théâtre de Bordeaux.

He is a regular guest at such festivals as Piano aux Jacobins, Menton, Saintes, Radio France-Montpellier, Lille Piano Festival, L’Esprit du Piano in Bordeaux, the Printemps des Arts de Monte-Carlo, Piano en Valois, the Chopin festivals of Nohant and Bagatelle, the Festival Messiaen au Pays de la Meije, and the Eygalières Festival.

Geoffroy Couteau had a dazzlingly successful career at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris, where he studied with Michel Béroff.

He is now artist in residence at L’Arsenal de Metz, a fertile collaboration that showcases his musical qualities.

Nicolas Baldeyrou

Nicolas Baldeyrou is one of the most talented clarinettists of his generation. Successively principal clarinet of the European Union Youth Orchestra, where he played under Bernard Haitink, Carlo Maria Giulini and Sir Colin Davis, Claudio Abbado’s Mahler Chamber Orchestra, and the Orchestre National de France conducted by Kurt Masur, he now dedicates himself to a triple career as soloist, teacher and orchestral musician – in 2011 he was appointed principal clarinet with the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France (principal conductor Myung-Whun Chung, now Mikko Franck). He has also taught at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et Danse de Lyon since 2006.

Nicolas Baldeyrou is actively involved in the music of his time. Moreover, his passion for exploring new repertories and his concern for authenticity in his interpretations have naturally led him to take an interest in historical clarinets.

Since 2004, he has also been a tester for the wind instrument manufacturer Buffet-Crampon, thereby contributing to the development of the instrument and the influence of the French school throughout the world.

Raphaël Perraud

Already the winner of several international competitions, Raphaël Perraud won the Prague Spring Competition in 1994 as well as three special prizes: the prize for the interpretation of the contemporary work, the prize of the Prague Spring Foundation and the gift of a cello. In the same year, Marek Janowski recruited him as second principal cello of the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France.

Since then, he has performed as a soloist with prestigious orchestras, including the Orchestre National de France, the Orchestre Symphonique de Mulhouse, the Orchestre de Chambre de Toulouse and the Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra.

An excellent chamber musician, he participates in numerous festivals with such artists as Nicolas Dautricourt, Lise Berthaud, Svetlin Roussev, Deborah Nemtanu, Régis Pasquier, Éric Le Sage, Elena Rozanova, Daishin Kashimoto and Georges Pludermacher.

In 2005, under the principal conductorship of Kurt Masur, he was appointed principal cello of the Orchestre National de France.