Trained by Georges Balbon at the Conservatoire à rayonnement régional de Paris, François Payet-Labonne obtained in 1990 the 1^st prizes for chamber music, sonata and quartet at the Conservatoire national de musique de Paris. He entered Sylvie Gazeau's class and obtained his First Prize in violin in 1991 and joined the solo violin class directed by Pierre Doukan. Since the age of 16, François Payet-Labonne has played with numerous orchestras as concertmaster. In 1994, he became concertmaster of the Orchestre national de Lyon conducted by Emmanuel Krivine.

At the same time, he teaches and performs in chamber music with, among others, Hortense Cartier-Bresson, Raphaël Chrétien, Eric Crambes, Michel Dalberto, Jean-Michel Dayez, Henri Demarquette, Xavier Gagnepain, Alexis Galpérine, Pascal Godart, Xavier Phillips and Raphaël Oleg. Former member of the Virtuoses de France, he is part of the Tempo di Tango directed by Olivier Manoury. Since 2001, he has been invited every year to the Festival des Arcs and the Académie des Arcs as well as to the Festival Opus directed by Eric Crambes.

He joined the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande in 2008 as second violin conductor. In 2010, he was appointed professor of violin (orchestral work) at the Geneva University of Music. François Payet-Labonne plays on a violin by François Lebeau, Luthier in Geneva.