Paul Zientara is a French violist who has distinguished himself on the French and international stages as a soloist and chamber musician.
Nominated for the Victoires de la Musique Classique 2025 award in the Soloist Revelation category instrumental, Paul Zientara is a prizewinner in several international competitions: Lionel Tertis Competition on the Isle of Man, Laureate of the Fondation Banque Populaire, Grand Prix de la Fondation Safran, Révélation de l’Adami.

Born in 2000, he began playing the viola at the age of 7 with Yves Pruvot at the Conservatoire de Yerres. After two years at the CRR de Paris in Françoise Gnéri’s class, he was admitted at age 16 to the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris in Sabine Toutain’s class. He also completed a master soloist course with Lawrence Power at the ZHdK in Zurich. He has received advice from masters such as Tabea Zimmermann, Gérard Caussé, Tatjana Masurenko, the Quatuor Ebène, Laurent Korcia.

In 2022, he appeared as soloist in Mozart’s Symphonie Concertante for violin and viola with Renaud Capuçon and the Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse. His debut as a soloist was marked by Bartók’s Concerto with the Pasdeloup orchestra at the age of 16, followed by numerous solo experiences with orchestras such as the Orchestre Philharmonique de Strasbourg, the Cercle de l’Harmonie, the Orchestre de la Garde Républicaine.

Paul Zientara also regularly performs chamber music with Renaud Capuçon, Emmanuel Pahud, Nelson Goerner, Alexandre Kantorow, Valeriy Sokolov, Emanuel Ax, Bertrand Chamayou, Vincent Warnier, and others at various festivals and venues such as the Auditorium de la Maison de la Radio, the Philharmonie de Paris, the Pierre Boulez Saal in Berlin, the Festival de La Roque-d’Anthéron, Festival de Pâques in Aix-en-Provence and Deauville, Rencontres Musicales d’Evian, Sommets Musicaux de Gstaad.

Sensitive to the contemporary repertoire, he is the dedicatee of several works by composers (Vincent Warnier, Graciane Finzi).

He joined Beau Soir Productions and recorded the piano quartets of Mozart and Strauss with Renaud Capuçon, Guillaume Bellom, Stéphanie Huang and Julia Hagen for Deutsche Grammophon, as well as a Brahms album centered on the two viola and piano sonatas with Arthur Hinnewinkel for Naïve.

He is assistant professor in Gérard Caussé’s class at the Ecole Normale de Musique in Paris and professor at the CRR de Saint-Maur-des-Fossés. He plays a 1757 viola by Carlo Ferdinando Landolfi, generously loaned by private sponsors, and a modern viola by Patrick Robin.