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, and 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.

In recital he 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. In March 2020 Kantorow was invited to step in for Murray Perahia with a recital at Carnegie Hall (Stern Auditorium).

He records exclusively with BIS, to great critical acclaim, and his most recent recording of Saint-Saëns has received Diapason d’Or and Choc Classica of the year. His à la Russe recital recording won numerous awards and distinctions including Choc de l’Année (Classica), Diapason découverte (Diapason), Supersonic (Pizzicato) and CD des Doppelmonats (PianoNews). For BIS he has also recorded Liszt concerti, with a forthcoming recital including rhapsodies by Brahms, Bartók and Liszt.

Alexandre 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.

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

2020/21 season / 361 words. Not to be altered without permission.