French violinist presents Beijing audience with classical sonatas

BEIJING -- French violinist Renaud Capucon on Sunday night delighted the Chinese audience with classical French sonatas at the National Centre for the Performing Arts (NCPA) in Beijing.

The last stop of Capucon's China tour, Sunday's performance saw him performing three classical pieces, namely Violin Sonata in G Minor by Claude Debussy, Violin Sonata No. 2 in G Major by Maurice Ravel, and Cesar Franck's Violin Sonata in A Major.

The violinist then surprised the audience with an encore of five pieces including Debussy's Clair de Lune.

Born in Chambery in 1976, Capucon is the recipient of several global music awards, and has performed with leading orchestras such as the Berliner Philharmoniker, Vienna Philharmonic, and London Symphony Orchestra.

Sunday's concert was Capucon's sixth performance at the NCPA. During an interview, he said it was good to see so many young Chinese audience injecting vitality to the industry.

"I didn't know much about Chinese works before. This time I came back to learn more," he said. "Butterfly Lovers Violin Concerto is one of the Chinese pieces I'd always wanted to perform."

The performance is part of this year's NCPA May Festival, which began on May 1 and will last till May 27.

The festival brings performances of musicians from home and abroad, including Austrian pianist Rudolf Buchbinder, who performed the complete collection of 32 Beethoven piano sonatas. Celebrated Chinese cellist Wang Jian is scheduled to perform three of J.S. Bach's six cello suites on the last day of the festival.