Named ADAMU Classical Revelation 2021 at the age of 20, Paul Zientara is the winner of several international competitions: 3^rd prize at the prestigious Lionel Tertis Competition on the Isle of Man, Grand Prix of the Safran Foundation, 1^st prize at the Epernay String Competition, 3^rd prize at the Festival Musical d’Automne des Jeunes Interpèretes…

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 the age of 16 to the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris in the class of Sabine Toutain and Christophe Gaugué.

In 2022, he appeared as soloist in Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante for violin and viola with Renaud Capuçon and the Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse. His solo debut was Bartók’s Concerto with the Orchestre Pasdeloup at the age of 16, followed by numerous solo performances with orchestras such as the Orchestre Philharmonique de Strasbourg, the Orchestre de la Garde Républicaine, the Orchestre de Chambre de Nouvelle Aquitaine and the Orchestre Colonne.

Paul Zientara’s chamber music partners include: Renaud Capuçon, Gérard Caussé, Nelson Goerner, Valeriy Sokolov, François Salque, Pierre Fouchenneret, Jérôme Pernoo, Marc Copey, Adam Laloum, Emmanuel Strosser, Adrien Boisseau, Liya Petrova, Adrien La Marca, Jérôme Ducros, Jérémy Menuhin, Victor Julien-Leferrière, Nicolas Baldeyrou… He regularly plays in duo with organist Vincent Warnier, who recently composed Légende, a work for viola and organ dedicated by Paul.

In 2023 he recorded Mozart’s Piano Quartets with Renaud Capuçon, Stéphanie Huang and Guillaume Bellom on the Deutsche Grammophon / Beau Soir Productions label.