Loan Cazal (27)

Loan Cazal, is a French violist. He studied at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris.

In 2014, he was chosen as a viola soloist for the Yuri Bashmet Youth Orchestra, performing at Vienna's Musikverein. In March 2017, at the age of 19, he secured the position of solo-viola in the Württembergisches Kammerorchester Heilbronn, becoming the youngest solo-viola in Germany.

He has performed as viola solo with many renowned orchestras all over Europe, and with great conductors such as Klaus Mäkelä, Axel Kober, Jean-Claude Casadesus, and François Leleux.

In 2019/2020, he was selected as the viola soloist for the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, a viola professor at the "Giovanni Virtuosi" academy and founded the "Libertalia '' strings orchestra in northern France. Since September 2021, he has been in an artist residency at the Queen Elisabeth Chapel, where he obtained the Artistic Diploma in 2024.

In 2024, he released his CD L’alto Lyrique with his ensemble Libertalia, alongside Nicolas Kruger and Guillaume Masson. This album features performances of Niccolò Paganini’s Sonata per la gran viola, Rachmaninov’s Sonata for Cello, Op. 19, and Max Bruch’s Romance, Op. 85.

Loan is currently playing a G.B Guadagnini viola from 1775 , generously loaned by Jürg Dähler and Florian Leonhard. He holds the position of the 1st principal viola at the Danish Royal Opera, a role he has held since October 2023.