Gérard Caussé (born 26 June 1948,

Toulouse Toulouse (, ; ; ) is a city in southern France, the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Haute-Garonne department and of the Occitania (administrative region), Occitania region. The city is on the banks of the Garonne, River Garonne, from ...

, France) is a

French French may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France ** French people, a nation and ethnic group ** French cuisine, cooking traditions and practices Arts and media * The French (band), ...

violist The viola ( , () ) is a string instrument of the violin family, and is usually bowed when played. Violas are slightly larger than violins, and have a lower and deeper sound. Since the 18th century, it has been the middle or alto voice of the v ...

. He gave the first performance of the celebrated ''

Ainsi la nuit ''Ainsi la nuit'' (''Thus the Night'') is a string quartet The term string quartet refers to either a type of musical composition or a group of four people who play them. Many composers from the mid-18th century onwards wrote string quartets. Th ...

'' quartet by

Henri Dutilleux Henri Paul Julien Dutilleux (; 22 January 1916 – 22 May 2013) was a French composer of late 20th-century classical music. Among the leading French composers of his time, his work was rooted in the Impressionistic style of Debussy and R ...

. The first movement of Gérard Grisey's celebrated work, ''Les Espaces Acoustiques'' ("Prologue"), is inscribed "à Gérard Caussé." His discography amounts to thirty recordings. Gerard Caussé plays a viola made by

Gasparo da Salo Gaspare (also ''Gaspero'', ''Gasperino'' and ''Gasparro'') is an Italian male given name, the literal translation of the English name Casper and Jasper (French Gaspard, Scandinavian Kasper and Jesper). The name is rare in contemporary times, bu ...

in 1560.

Career

Caussé has shared the stage in both orchestral and chamber music with musicians such as Augustin Dumay,

Emmanuel Krivine Emmanuel Krivine (born 7 May 1947, Grenoble) is a French conductor. Biography The son of a Polish mother and a Russian father, Krivine studied the violin as a youth. He was a winner of the ''Premier Prix'' at the Paris Conservatoire, at age 16. ...

Charles Dutoit Charles Édouard Dutoit is a Swiss conductor. He is the principal guest conductor for the Saint Petersburg Philharmonia. In 2017, he became the 103rd recipient of the Royal Philharmonic Society Gold Medal Award. Dutoit held previous positions ...

, and

Kent Nagano Kent George Nagano (born November 22, 1951) is an American conductor and opera administrator. Since 2015, he has been ''Generalmusikdirektor'' (GMD) of the Hamburg State Opera (until 2025). Early life and education Nagano was born in Berkeley, ...

. His recordings include more than thirty-five issued under labels such as

EMI EMI Group Limited (formerly EMI Group plc until 2007; originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records or simply EMI) was a British transnational conglomerate founded in March 1931 in London. At t ...

Erato In Greek mythology, Erato (; ) is one of the Greek Muses, the inspirational goddesses of literature, science, and the arts. The name would mean "desired" or "lovely", if derived from the same root as Eros, as Apollonius of Rhodes playfully sugge ...

and

Philips Koninklijke Philips N.V. (), simply branded Philips, is a Dutch multinational health technology company that was founded in Eindhoven in 1891. Since 1997, its world headquarters have been situated in Amsterdam, though the Benelux headquarter ...

. Caussé is holder of the Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria Chair of Viola at the Escuela Superior de Música Reina Sofía.

References

1948 births Living people French classical violists French music educators Musicians from Toulouse Academic staff of the Reina Sofía School of Music Erato Records artists {{Violist-stub