Biography
Nominated at the age of 20 Classic Revelation of ADAMI 2021, Paul Zientara is the winner of several international competitions: 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 at the age of 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 such as 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 various 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…
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. His beginnings as a soloist was marked by the Bartók Concerto with the Pasdeloup Orchestra at the age of 16, followed by multiple solo experiences with orchestras such as the Orchestre de la Garde Républicaine, the Colonne Orchestra, Nouvelle Europe… In addition, Paul’s chamber music partners are: 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, Nicolas Baldeyrou… He has performed in particular 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 various contemporary creations, including a work by Diana Soh as an viola duo with Gérard Caussé. 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.
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…
He 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.