Antoine Tamestit

Violist Antoine Tamestit is internationally recognized as a leading soloist, recitalist and chamber musician beloved for his unsurpassed technique and the much-vaunted beauty of his richly coloured tone. His broad repertoire ranges from Baroque to the present, and his strong commitment to contemporary music is reflected in numerous premieres of new works.

In the 21/22 season, Antoine Tamestit was able to showcase the breadth of his talents in residencies with the London Symphony Orchestra (Artist Portrait), Staatskapelle Dresden (Capell-Virtuos) and the Cologne Philharmonie (Porträtkünstler). In 22/23, he will be Artist-in-Residence at the Prague Spring Festival.

In recent seasons, Antoine has performed with orchestras including the Vienna Philharmonic, Boston Symphony, Bayerische Rundfunk, Orchestre de Paris, Czech Philharmonic, Orchestre National de France, Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, Chamber Orchestra of Europe, Mahler Chamber Orchestra or the Akademie Für Alte Musik Berlin among many others. He performs regularly with major conductors including Sir John Eliot Gardiner, Alan Gilbert, Daniel Harding, Paavo Järvi, Klaus Mäkelä, Yannick Nezet-Seguin, Sir Antonio Pappano, Kirill Petrenko, Sir Simon Rattle, Francois-Xavier Roth, and Christian Thielemann.

Antoine Tamestit was a founding member of Trio Zimmermann with Frank Peter Zimmermann and Christian Poltera. Together they have recorded a number of acclaimed CDs for BIS Records, including Bach’s Goldberg Variations in their own arrangement, and have played in Europe’s most famous concert halls and series. Other chamber music partners include Emmanuel Ax, Isabelle Faust, Martin Fröst, Leonidas Kavakos, Nikolai Lugansky, Yo-Yo Ma, Emmanuel Pahud, Francesco Piemontesi, Cédric Tiberghien, Yuja Wang, Jörg Widmann, Shai Wosner and the Ébène Quartet.

Among the most important world premieres by Antoine Tamestit are Jörg Widmann’s Viola Concerto, Thierry Escaich’s La Nuit des Chants, Bruno Mantovani’s Concerto for Two Violas with Tabea Zimmermann, as well as Gérard Tamestit’s Sakura and Olga Neuwirth’s Remnants of Songs and Weariness Heals Wounds.

Together with Nobuko Imai, Antoine Tamestit continues to be the co-artistic director of the Viola Space Festival in Japan for 10 years, focusing on the development of viola repertoire and a wide range of education programmes.

Antoine records regularly with Harmonia Mundi as he continues to expand his vibrant scope of discography. Of the many of his acclaimed albums, Round Midnight with Quatuor Ebène was recently crowned with Chamber Award 2022 by the coveted Gramophone Award. His recent releases include Johannes Brahms’s Sonatas for Viola and Piano with Cédric Tiberghien and a Telemann album with the Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin. His other most notable release was the Widmann Concerto, recorded with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra and Daniel Harding in February 2018. The recording was selected as Editor’s Choice in BBC Music Magazine and also won the Premier Award at the BBC Music Magazine Awards in 2019.

Born in Paris, Tamestit studied with Jean Sulem, Jesse Levine, and with Tabea Zimmermann. He was the recipient of several prizes including first prize at the William Primrose Competition in 2001, and the ARD International Music Competition in 2004 as well as being awarded the Credit Suisse Young Artist Award in 2008. In November 2022 he will receive the Paul-Hindemith-Preis of the City of Hanau.

Antoine Tamestit plays on the very first viola made by Antonio Stradivarius in 1672, generously loaned by the Habisreutinger Foundation.