This page needs JavaScript activated to work.

Alexandre Kantorow

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

  • In 2019, aged 22, Alexandre Kantorow became the first French pianist to win the Gold Medal at the International Tchaikovsky Competition, along with the rarely awarded Grand Prix, granted only three times in the competition’s history. In 2024, he was recognised once again when he received the esteemed Gilmore Artist Award, solidifying his place as one the world’s leading pianists. Gramophone magazine has described him as “the real deal, a fire-breathing virtuoso with a poetic charm and innate stylistic mastery”. He is in demand at the highest level across the globe, performing in the world’s finest halls both in recital and with the most renowned orchestras and conductors.

Read more
  • Highlights of Kantorow’s 25/26 season include a tour of Japan with the Concertgebouw Orchestra and Mäkelä, European tours with the Filarmonica della Scala and Chailly and the London Philharmonic Orchestra and Paavo Järvi, a tour of Asia with the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France and van Zweden, and a tour to the US with the Philharmonia and Alsop which includes at performance at Carnegie Hall. He will also embark on a major recital tour of North America, make his debut with the San Francisco Symphony and return to the Rotterdam Philharmonic and Bavarian Radio Symphony orchestras.


    Kantorow performs in recital regularly across the globe, in venues such as Carnegie Hall, Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Vienna Konzerthaus, London’s Wigmore Hall, Philharmonie de Paris, Tokyo Suntory Hall, and at 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 and Matthias Goerne. With Liya Petrova and Aurélien Pascal he is co-artistic director of the Musikfest and "Rencontres Musicales de Nîmes" and the Pianopolis festival in Angers.


    In recent seasons, Kantorow has performed with many of the world’s finest orchestras such as the New York Philharmonic, LA Philharmonic, Orchestre de Paris, Berlin Philharmonic, Munich Philharmonic and Budapest Festival orchestras and with conductors including Esa-Pekka Salonen, Manfred Honeck, Ivan Fischer, Yannick Nézet-Séguin and Sir Antonio Pappano.


    Alexandre Kantorow records exclusively for BIS. His recordings have received the highest critical acclaim worldwide.  In 2024, he was awarded the title of Chevalier of the National Order of Merit by the French President of the Republic, having previously been made a Chevalier of the Order of Arts and Letters by the Minister of Culture. In July 2024, Kantorow performed Ravel's Jeux d’eau at the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympic Games. 


    Alexandre Kantorow studied with Pierre-Alain Volondat, Igor Lazko, Frank Braley, and Rena Shereshevskaya.

    2025/26 season / 430 words. Not to be altered without permission.

Performances

View more
Close
Loading performances...

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 
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
Piano Concerto No. 3 in C major, Op.26


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


 


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

Downloads

All images

  • N
  • D
  • Y

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

Anna Sutton
Assistant Artist Manager
+44 20 7687 8717
asutton@intermusica.com

All artists

Contralto

Avery Amereau

Actor / Narrator

Amira Casar

Chansonnier

HK Gruber

Harpsichord

Richard Egarr

Piano accompanist

Roger Vignoles