Winner of the First Prize for viola and chamber music at the Paris Conservatoire (CNSMDP), Nicolas Peyrat studied there under Pierre-Henri Xuereb, Pierre-Laurent Aimard, Alain Meunier and Michel Strauss. In 1996, he studied under Milan Škampa (of the Smetana Quartet) at the Prague Academy of Music, before joining the postgraduate programme at the CNSMDP. He then continued his training at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London, in Timothy Boulton’s class, and subsequently at the Musikhochschule in Basel with Hatto Beyerle, founder of the Alban Berg Quartet.

As a member of the Orchestre de Paris, he has performed under the baton of conductors such as Claudio Abbado, Pierre Boulez, Christoph Eschenbach and Bernard Haitink. He also collaborates with the Ensemble intercontemporain, the Paris Opera, the Radio France Philharmonic Orchestra and the Orchestre national de France, and is invited as principal viola by the Orchestre Léonard de Vinci in Rouen and the Orchestre Pasdeloup.

A guest at festivals such as the Festival des Arcs and La Folle Journée in Bilbao, he has performed major works from the repertoire, notably Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante, Telemann’s Concerto and Bartók’s Viola Concerto, at the Cité de la Musique in Paris. He also premiered Régis Campo’s *La Stravaganza*. Since 2012, he has been expressing his passion for contemporary music as part of the Tours-based ensemble AtMusica, where he takes part in numerous projects in a variety of ensembles. Since 2021, he has been devoting himself more specifically to the string quartet repertoire.

Alongside his work as a classical musician, Nicolas Peyrat nurtures a passion for Argentine music. He first joined Juan José Mosalini’s Grand Orchestre de Tango, before founding the Nada Mas trio in 2008 and subsequently forming the Mosalini–Aubía–Peyrat trio. With these ensembles, he has performed in Europe’s leading concert halls – such as the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg, the Konzerthaus in Berlin and Vienna, and the Tonhalle in Düsseldorf – and took part in the Buenos Aires Tango Festival in 2015 and 2019. Today, he performs as part of a trio alongside guitarist César Angeleri and pianist Diego Aubía, with a repertoire inspired by Argentina’s rich folklore.