Alexandre Kantorow

Even before the competition, Kantorow had already been attracting attention. He began his career at an early stage and, at 16, made his debut at La Folle Journée festival in Nantes. Since then he has played with many of the world’s major orchestras, including regularly the Mariinsky Orchestra with Valery Gergiev. Highlights in this and future seasons include the Orchestre de Paris, Staatskapelle Berlin, Royal
Philharmonic Orchestra, Philharmonia, Royal Stockholm Philharmonic and tours with the Orchestre National de Toulouse, Budapest Festival Orchestra and the Munich Philharmonic, and conductors with whom he is performing include Rouvali, Yamada, Petrenko and Pappano.

In recital Kantorow appears at major concert halls such as the Concertgebouw Amsterdam in their Master Pianists series, Konzerthaus Berlin, Philharmonie de Paris, BOZAR in Brussels, Stockholm Konserthus and at the most prestigious festivals including La Roque d’Anthéron, Piano aux Jacobins, Verbier Festival and Klavierfest Ruhr. He is Artist-in-Resident at Radio France, the Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte Carlo and the Gstaad Festival.

Chamber music is also one his great pleasures and he regularly performs with Victor Julien-Laferrière, Renaud Capuçon, Daniel Lozakovick and Matthias Goerne.

Kantorow records exclusively with BIS, to great critical acclaim. His most
recent recording is a Brahms recital. His Saint-Saens concerti 3-5 and solo works by Brahms, Bartok and Liszt both received the Diapason d'Or and Choc Classica of the year in 2019 and 2020 respectively, with Gramophone magazine choosing the solo disc as editor's choice and describing his performance as ‘a further remarkable example of his virtuosity and artistry, showing both skill and sensitivity throughout’. His à la Russe recital recording also won numerous awards and distinctions in 2017, including Choc de l’Année (Classica), Diapason découverte (Diapason), Supersonic (Pizzicato) and CD des Doppelmonats (PianoNews).

Kantorow is a laureate of the Safran Foundation and Banque Populaire,
and in 2019 was named ‘Musical Revelation of the Year’ by the
Professional Critics Association. In 2020, he won the Victoires de la Musique Classique in two categories: Recording of the Year and Instrumental Soloist of the Year. In 2021 he received the Trophée d’Année from Radio Classique.

Born in France and of French-British heritage (he has three British grand-parents), Kantorow has studied with Pierre-Alain Volondat, Igor Lazko, Franck Braley and Rena Shereshevskaya.

2021/22 season / 371 words. Not to be altered without permission.