Antoine TAMESTIT was born in 1979 and studied with Jean Sulem at the Paris Conservatory, at Yale University (USA) with Jesse Levine and the Tokyo String Quartet, and with Tabea ZIMMERMANN in Berlin. His talents have been recognized internationally, and he won First Prize at the Maurice Vieux Competition (Paris, 2000) and First Prize at the William Primrose Competition (Chicago, 2001). He was then invited to numerous festivals like Aix-en-Provence or the International Viola Congress in Seattle. In January 2003, Antoine Tamestit won First Prize at the Young Concert Artists (YCA) International Auditions and made his New York, Boston and Washington recital debuts. In September 2004, he took First Prize at the 53rd ARD Munich International Music Competition, as well as the Audience Prize and two special Prizes.

He was "Révélation instrumentale de l'Année" of the French Victoires de la Musique in 2007.

His repertoire ranges from the Baroque period to the contemporary. His particular interest for the music of our time has led him to meet many composers, and to perform and record numerous world premieres. At the Feldkirch Festival 2002, his acclaimed performance of Viola, Viola by Georges BENJAMIN with Tabea ZIMMERMANN was followed in December 2003 by a recording of the piece for the label Nimbus.

A passionate chamber musician, he performs with artists such as Gidon KREMER, Frank-Peter ZIMMERMANN, Janine JANSEN, Julian RACHLIN, Isabelle FAUST, Emmanuel PAHUD, Boris PERGAMENSHIKOV, Mischa MAISKY, Jean-Guihen QUEYRAS, Paul MEYER, Renaud and Gautier CAPUÇON, Nicholas ANGELICH, Natalia GUTMAN. He is invited by the most prestigious festivals : Lockenhaus, Kronberg, Moritzburg, Rheingau, Schwarzenberg, Davos, Lucerne, Santander, Jérusalem, Newport, as well as the Folles Journées in France and Japan.

As a soloist, Antoine Tamestit has worked with the Munich and Vienna Chamber Orchestras, the BBC Philharmonic and the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra. In April 2005, he made his debut at the Berlin Konzerthaus with the Deutsches Sinfonie Orchester, and toured in summer 2005, playing Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante under Emmanuel KRIVINE and La Chambre Philharmonique. In 2006, he was invited to play with the Dresden, Munich, Francfort, Saarbruck, Stuttgart, Liège, Toulouse orchestras and he made his debuts with the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France.
In 2006/07, he plays with Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, Vienna Radio orchestra, BBC Scottish and BBC Wales Orchestras, Orchestre National de Lyon, Berlin Komische Oper Orchester, and in September 2007 with Warsaw Philharmonic and the Berliner Symphoniker.
His work with the German pianist Markus HADULLA has led him to discover the large sonata repertoire. In 2005/06 he toured with the most prestigious halls such as the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, the Vienna Musikverein, Carnegie Hall, Wigmore Hall in London, Megaron in Athens, Palais des Beaux-Arts in Brussels, Konserthus in Stockholm, Festspielhaus in Baden-Baden or the Cité de la Musique de Paris, as part as ECHO’s Rising Stars programme.  In November 2006 he performed at New York’s Lincoln Center – the first time the Center has programmed a viola recital.

In April 2004, Antoine TAMESTIT was selected to participate in BBC Radio 3’s New Generation Artists Scheme, which lasts for two years and consists of solo recordings for BBC Radio 3, concerto recordings with BBC orchestras throughout the UK, and recitals engagements, including his debut performance at London’s Wigmore Hall (October 2005). He is one of the winners of the Borletti-Buitoni Trust Award for 2006.

His first solo recording (Bach/Ligeti) has just be released by Ambroisie.

Antoine TAMESTIT plays on a viola by Etienne Vatelot (Paris).