Gautier Capuçon calls BLACKPINK collaboration 'a cultural shock and a wonder'

The moment a cellist draws the bow across the strings and coaxes out that first note, the audience holds its breath — witnessing a near-sacred union between performer and instrument. For Gautier Capuçon, one of the most celebrated cellists in the world, the cello is far more than crafted wood and strings. It is, he says, the instrument that resonates most closely with the human voice, and the one place where the boundary between self and other dissolves entirely.

Capuçon, who lives a nomadic life of perpetual musical travel, is returning to Korea. This visit brings him together with pianist and conductor Mikhail Pletnev and the Rachmaninoff International Orchestra (RIO) for a performance of Beethoven's Triple Concerto.

In a written interview ahead of his visit, Capuçon made no effort to conceal his excitement about reuniting with Pletnev. "My heart is already racing," he said.

The two have collaborated many times before, but performing Beethoven's only concerto-scale work for cello under Pletnev's baton always demands a fresh narrative, Capuçon said. "When we played together before, I felt a profound artistic depth between us. This time, performing the Beethoven Triple Concerto — a work I hold in the deepest reverence — while he conducts makes the anticipation all the more extraordinary. Every moment of forging a musical bond with great masters becomes one of the most luminous highlights of my life."

The concert draws particular attention from the classical music world because it marks Capuçon's first collaboration with RIO, the ensemble Pletnev founded in 2023. Even for a musician who has performed with the world's most prestigious orchestras, a tour with an ensemble he has never worked with before is, he said, an unfamiliar and irresistible adventure.

"Because it is an uncharted journey with someone I have never played with before, I feel a delightful thrill," he said. "I look forward enormously to the process of our first collaboration — exploring each other's artistic sensibilities and finding our shared breath. An ensemble is like a conversation of getting to know one another, and I cannot hide my excitement about how that first sentence will begin."

Beethoven's Triple Concerto is a work Capuçon knows intimately. He performed it in February at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in Paris alongside his older brother, violinist Renaud Capuçon, and the legendary pianist Martha Argerich. Among Beethoven's output for cello, the Triple Concerto holds a singular place.

"The Triple Concerto carries an entirely special trajectory for cellists," he said. "It is, in effect, the only cello concerto Beethoven ever wrote. In this work, the cello leads the narrative spine and stands fully exposed on stage as a soloist. It is a formidable masterpiece that tests the performer's limits — technically and musically."

For cellists who find the concerto repertoire particularly sparse, Beethoven's legacy is an asset of immeasurable value. "I truly love this piece for all the adventures it allows," Capuçon said, adding that the tension and harmony the trio creates will be the highlight of the Seoul performance. He will perform the work alongside violinist Daniel Lozakovich and pianist Hélène Mercier.

The cello, his companion of many years, means more to Capuçon than any instrument. "The cello is the instrument most similar to the human voice, and at the same time an intensely sensual one," he said.

"Perhaps the cellist and the cello are the only pair that come into physical contact as closely as a mother and child," he said. "When a cellist cradles the instrument with the whole body and draws the bow, two separate entities on stage dissolve, and only one organic being remains. It offers a wonder in which the self and the other — the instrument — resonate more intimately than with any other instrument."

Yet for all that intimacy with his instrument, the way Capuçon shares music with the world is strikingly open. He has long taken part in festivals and projects that bring classical music to broader audiences and bridge generations, never content to remain within the confines of traditional concert halls or orthodox touring.

"I feel a deep passion and sense of responsibility for opening the time and space of music to as many people as possible," he said, "because I deeply love the emotional connection with audiences and the bonds that grow from it."

He added that "the faster and more fragmented modern society becomes, the more we must protect human solidarity and warmth. Music is the ultimate art form that overcomes that disconnection — I am convinced it is a noble duty we must fulfill as human beings."

That philosophy shapes his programming as well. Even amid a punishing schedule — roughly 15 different concertos and countless chamber music programs in a single season — he regards commissioning new works from living composers as a vital responsibility.

"Interpreting a text together with a living composer and breathing musical life into it is the greatest privilege and the richest nourishment a performer can have," Capuçon said. "Bringing the music of our own time — music that carries the breath of the age — to the stage is an obligation every musician must embrace."

No account of Capuçon's expanding artistic horizons would be complete without his collaboration with K-pop. His 2023 performance alongside BLACKPINK at the French charity gala Le Gala des Pièces Jaunes sent a jolt of fresh energy through both the classical and pop worlds — a cross-genre encounter he still carries with him.

"Working with BLACKPINK was a kind of cultural shock and a wondrous experience," he said. "It was a completely new aesthetic way of working for me. When artists from different worlds meet, unlock the barriers of language and genre, and create a new metaphor together — that attempt is profoundly original. We can learn so much more from each other than we might expect. We should embrace such encounters as a blessing and a stroke of luck for our time, and keep pushing to expand the boundaries of art."

His affection for Korea runs deep. "Korea is a country I genuinely love," he said. The audiences there, he added — with their "fiercely passionate" engagement and "deep, exceptional discernment and understanding of music" — make it "nearly impossible not to love a Korean concert hall as a performer."

"Korean audiences absorb every bit of energy a performer puts out on stage and return it as something even more moving," he said. "I look forward to greeting you warmly soon, amid Korea's warm air and the melodies of Beethoven filling the deep of the night."