Paul Zientara is a French violist who stands out on both French and international stages as a soloist and chamber musician.

Nominated for the 2025 Victoires de la Musique Classique in the category Instrumental Solo Revelation, Paul Zientara is a prizewinner of several international competitions: 3rd Prize at the Lionel Tertis Competition on the Isle of Man, laureate of the Banque Populaire Foundation, Grand Prize of the Safran Foundation, and Adami Revelation, among others.

Born in 2000, he began studying the viola at the age of 7 with Yves Pruvot at the Conservatoire of Yerres. After two years at the CRR of 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. He also pursued a Master Soloist degree with Lawrence Power at the ZHdK in Zurich. He has received guidance from such masters as Tabea Zimmermann, Gérard Caussé, Tatjana Masurenko, the Quatuor Ebène, and Laurent Korcia.

In 2022, he performed Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante for violin and viola alongside Renaud Capuçon and the Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse. His solo debut was marked by Bartók’s Viola Concerto with the Orchestre Pasdeloup at the age of 16, followed by numerous solo appearances with orchestras such as the Strasbourg Philharmonic Orchestra, Le Cercle de l’Harmonie, and the Orchestre de la Garde Républicaine. Paul Zientara also performs regularly as a chamber musician alongside Renaud Capuçon, Emmanuel Pahud, Nelson Goerner, Alexandre Kantorow, Valeriy Sokolov, Bertrand Chamayou, Vincent Warnier, Julia Hagen, Marc Coppey, and others, at major festivals and venues including the Auditorium of the Maison de la Radio, the Philharmonie de Paris, the Pierre Boulez Saal in Berlin, the Festival de La Roque d’ Anthéron, the Aix-en-Provence and Deauville Easter Festivals, the Rencontres Musicales d’Evian, and the Sommets Musicaux de Gstaad.

Deeply engaged with contemporary repertoire, he is the dedicatee of several works by composers such as Vincent Warnier, Graciane Finzi, and Diana Soh.

He has been part of Beau Soir Productions since its creation, enabling him to collaborate with Renaud Capuçon and his teams, and to record Mozart’s piano quartets in 2023, as well as Strauss’s String Quartet in 2025, both under the Deutsche Grammophon label. 

In 2025, he also records a duo album with pianist Arthur Hinnewinkel, featuring Brahms and the Sonatas for Viola and Piano, Op.120, released on Naïve in partnership with Beau Soir Productions.

Paul Zientara is assistant professor in Gérard Caussé’s class at the École Normale de Musique de Paris as well as a professor at the CRR of Saint-Maur-des-Fossés.

He plays a 1757 viola by Carlo Ferdinando Landolfi, generously loaned by private patrons, as well as a modern viola by Patrick Robin.