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Alexandre Kantorow

Piano
Gilmore Artist Award 2024
Tchaikovsky Competition 2019, Gold Medal & Grand Prix

  • Alexandre Kantorow has been hailed by critics as the 'young tsar of the piano' (Classica) and 'Liszt reincarnated' (Fanfare).  He is in demand at the highest level across the globe and as such has performed with many of the world’s finest orchestras, such as the Berlin Philharmoniker, Boston Symphony and Budapest Festival orchestras and with conductors including Klaus Mäkelä, Manfred Honeck, Jaap van Zweden, Ivan Fischer, Vasily Petrenko and Sir Antonio Pappano. In 2019, at the age of 22, he was the first French pianist to win the Gold Medal at the Tchaikovsky Competition as well as the Grand Prix, awarded only three times before in the competition's history and in 2024 he was the recipient of the Gilmore Artist Award. Gramophone magazine has described him as “the real deal, a fire-breathing virtuoso with a poetic charm and innate stylistic mastery”.  

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  • In recital, Kantorow appears in all the major concert halls across the globe, such as Carnegie Hall, Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Konzerthaus Berlin, London’s Queen Elizabeth Hall and Wigmore Hall, Philharmonie de Paris, Bozar in Brussels and Tokyo Opera City, and festivals such as Edinburgh, Salzburg, La Roque d’Anthéron, Piano aux Jacobins, Verbier, Rheingau and Klavierfest Ruhr. Chamber music is one his great pleasures and he performs regularly with artists such as Janine Jansen, Renaud Capuçon, Gautier Capuçon, Daniel Lozakovick and Matthias Goerne. 


    Highlights of Kantorow’s 2024/2025 season include his debut with the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra and in recital at Chicago’s Symphony Center, a European tour with the Munich Philharmonic Orchestra, performances of Brahms' Piano Concertos Nos. 1 and 2 with John Eliot Gardiner and the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France and a tour of Europe with the Orchestre Metropolitain and Yannick Nézet-Séguin. He will also perform solo recitals across Europe and Asia, including performances in Seoul, Beijing, Shanghai and Tokyo.


    Kantorow records exclusively with BIS, to great critical acclaim and he has received numerous awards and accolades for his recordings, including several Diapason d’Or and Choc de l’Année (Classica), Trophée Radio Classique and Victoires de la Musique Classique Recording of the Year. His new recording of works by Brahms and Schubert will be released on 1 November 2024.


    Kantorow is a laureate of the Safran Foundation and Banque Populaire.  In 2020 and 2024 he won the Victoires de la Musique Classique Instrumental Soloist of the Year. In 2022, he received the title of Chevalier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French Minister of Culture and in 2024, he was awarded the medal of Chevalier de l'Ordre National du Mérite by the French President, Emmanuel Macron.  Born in France and of French-British heritage, Kantorow studied with Pierre-Alain Volondat, Igor Lazko, Franck Braley and Rena Shereshevskaya.

    2024/25 season / 448 words. Not to be altered without permission.

Performances

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Concerto repertoire

Beethoven
Piano Concerto No.4 in G major, Op.58
Triple Concerto, Op. 56


Brahms
Piano Concerto No. 1 in D minor, Op. 15 (from 24/25)
Piano Concerto No.2 in B-flat major, Op.83


Chopin
Piano Concerto No.2 in F minor, Op.21


Connesson
"L'Espérance de l'aube" Concerto for Piano and Chamber Orchestra


Liszt
Piano Concerto No.1 in E-flat major, S.124
Piano Concerto No.2 in A major, S.125


Prokofiev
Piano Concerto No.2 in G minor, Op.16


Rachmaninov
Piano Concerto No. 1 in F-sharp minor, Op. 1
Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, Op. 43


Saint-Saens
Piano Concerto No.2 in G minor, Op.22
Piano Concerto No.5 in F major, Op.103 'Egyptian'


Tchaikovsky
Piano Concerto No.2 in G major, Op.44

Livestreams & Broadcasts

Orchestre de Paris | November 2023 | cond. Klaus Mäkelä


Saint-Saëns Piano Concerto No.5 in F major 'Egyptian'


Click to watch on medici.tv


 


Berlin Philharmoniker | September 2023 | cond. Tugan Sokhiev


Liszt Piano Concerto No. 2


Click to watch on Berlin Philharmoniker Digital Concert Hall


 


Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal | February 2023 | cond. Kent Nagano


Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No. 2


Click to watch on medici.tv


 


Philharmonie de Paris Recital | March 2023


Brahms Piano Sonata No. 1 in C major, Op. 1
Schubert (arr. Liszt) Selected Lieder
Schubert Fantasie in C major, Op.15, D. 760, "Wanderer Fantasy"


Click to watch on medici.tv


 


SWR Symphonieorchester | January 2022 | cond. Teodor Currentzis


Brahms Piano Concerto No. 2


Click to watch on YouTube


 


Netherlands Chamber Orchestra | October 2020 | dir. Gordan Nikolić


Chopin Piano Concerto No. 2


Click to watch on YouTube


 


'Musicmakers' Documentary Interview | 2022


Click to watch on medici.tv

"There is intriguing tension between Kantorow’s lucid, pearly touch and the Romantic wildness of his music-making. [...] They brought together suavity and showmanship."

New York Times (Critic's Pick)

"If his sheer virtuosity is impressive, it is his ear for poetry that makes him a true artist."

The Times, 5*

"This was a tremendous recital, which pulled you into four very different expressive worlds while giving a strong sense of the single personality that shaped them."

Telegraph

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Intermusica represents Alexandre Kantorow in the UK, Ireland, North America and Australasia

Stephen Lumsden
Chief Executive
+44 20 7608 9900

Leyla Güneş
Deputy Head of Artist Management
+44 20 7608 9927
lgunes@intermusica.com

David O'Leary
Artist Manager
+44 (0) 7752 396 842
doleary@intermusica.com

Martin Wittenberg
Director, Intermusica New York (representation in North America)
+1 (719) 200-6426
mwittenberg@intermusica.com

All artists

Chansonnier

HK Gruber

Counter-tenor

Tim Mead

Harpsichord

Richard Egarr

Piano accompanist

Roger Vignoles

Saxophone

Jess Gillam

Contralto

Avery Amereau