Gérard Caussé has been exploring all the territories of the viola’s voice for many years: as a soloist, chamber musician, conductor and teacher, he has recently developed a passion, with Laurent Terzieff, for the dialogue between poetry and music, as evidenced by the Erato recording of Bach’s Cello Suites, transcribed for the viola, interwoven with Rilke’s poetry. Caussé is an international soloist under the baton of the greatest conductors, with the most prestigious ensembles; defender of the contemporary repertoire, has been a solo viola, since the foundation of the Ensemble Intercontemporain by Pierre Boulez; and is a faithful and sought-after chamber musician as well as a regular partner of the greatests: Gidon Kremer, Mischa Maisky, Michel Portal, Renaud Capuçon, Franck Braley, Nicholas Angelich… A renowned teacher, from the Escuela Reina Sofia in Madrid to the Conservatoire Supérieur de Paris, Cussé is also a conductor and musical director for the Toulouse Chamber Orchestra and the Caja Duero Foundation Camerata in Salamanca. As a generous intermediary with the younger generation, Gérard Caussé embodies all the facets of the life of an outstanding viola player, having developed them throughout his career. From an instrument with an intimate voice and a discreet repertoire, not predisposed to be much talked about, he has been able to create a particular voice, recognizable among all, and has initiated a whole young generation of musicians who have since become violists by vocation, not by necessity. His enlightened and daring choices as a soloist, his virtuosity, the particular timbre of his voice, and his constant concern to expand the solo repertoire of the instrument, by commissioning major composers of the 20th century, Philippe Hersant, Michael Levinas, Pascal Dusapin, Hugues Dufour, Betsy Jolas, Wolfgang Rihm, Gérard Pesson…, have established him as the undisputed figure of the viola, acclaimed by his peers, the public and the critics. His discography, rich with more than sixty award-winning recordings, covers a repertoire ranging from Bach to Mozart, Berlioz, Bartok, Britten, Stravinsky and Shostakovich. He shares the stage with his magnificent Gasparo da Salo, from 1560.