Biography

Alexandre Kantorow is a French pianist. He won the first prize, gold medal, and Grand Prix at the 16th International Tchaikovsky Competition in 2019.

He was born in Clermont-Ferrand to a family of musicians; his father is the violinist and conductor Jean-Jacques Kantorow and his mother is also a violinist. He began to study piano at the age of five at the conservatory of Pontoise.

At the age of 11, Kantorow began studies with Pierre-Alain Volondat, and continued training with Igor Lazko at the Schola Cantorum de Paris.

When he was 16 years old, Kantorow was invited to play at the La Folle Journée festival in Nantes and has since appeared at such festivals as the Festival de La Roque-d'Anthéron, the Festival Chopin à Paris, and the Festival Piano aux Jacobins.

At the age of 17, he performed at the Philharmonie de Paris with the Pasdeloup Orchestra at its inaugural season to an audience of about 2,500. He has since appeared at major concert halls including the Konzerthaus Berlin, Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, the BOZAR in Brussels, and the auditorium in the Louis Vuitton Foundation. Kantorow currently studies with Rena Shereshevskaya, who was also the teacher of Lucas Debargue, at the École Normale de Musique de Paris.

In 2019, Alexandre Kantorow won the first prize, gold medal, and Grand Prix at the 16th International Tchaikovsky Competition, becoming the first French winner in the history of the competition. He was the only finalist in the competition to play the Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No. 2 in G major, and also performed Brahms' Piano Concerto No. 2 in B-flat major.
- IMDb mini biography by: DK

The first French winner of the International Tchaikovsky Competition in its history.

He has studied with Pierre-Alain Volondat, Igor Lazko, Franck Braley and Rena Chereshevskaya.

In 2020, he has been awarded two "Victoires de la Musique Classique": recording of the year (Saint-Saëns concerto n°3, 4 & 5) and instrumental soloist of the year.

In 2019, he was named "Musical Revelation of the Year" by the Professional Critics Association.

[on Johannes Brahms] I am really attracted to the Brahms who defies how we often think of him, so fiery and ambitious and even avant-garde; he could be compared to Liszt. I am pretty sure that Liszt would have been amazed by these youthful sonatas. They are so bold, harmonically intense and structurally original.