Alexandre Kantorow

Alexandre Kantorow was born in Clermont-Ferrand to a family of musicians in 1997. His father is the violinist and conductor Jean-Jacques Kantorow and his mother, Kathryn Dean, is also a violinist. 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. 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. After Lazko, Kantorow studied with , who was also the teacher of Lucas Debargue, at the École Normale de Musique de Paris. In 2023 Kantorow won the prestigious $300,000 Gilmore Artist Award. Gilmore Award is not a competition, so Kantorow was unaware that he was considered for it, and when he received the news described it as "It was a bit like a 'You're a wizard, Harry,' kind of moment, from Harry Potter." The award's jury members were "impressed by his charisma, curiosity and 'inquisitive nature'". Zachary Woolfe noted that to win both the Tchaikovsky Competition and Gilmore Award "suggests Kantorow has technical security as well as something to say". On 26 July 2024 he performed Maurice Ravel's "Jeux d’Eau" during the 2024 Summer Olympics opening ceremony under the "pouring rain"; his performance was described as "heroic and unflappable". In 2024, he was made a Chevalier of the National Order of Merit, and before that a Chevalier of the Order of Arts and Letters. In 2025, Kantorow played Sergei Prokofiev’s Third Piano Concerto and Franz Liszt's transcription of the “Liebestod” from Richard Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde. Kantorow's 2024 "Brahms-Schubert" received the Gramophone's Piano Award 2025. == Style ==

In 2019, Kantorow was described as a "pale young man with cat-like eyes and long, diaphanous fingers". The Gramophone called him a "fire-breathing virtuoso with a poetic charm" and the Fanfare called him a "Liszt reincarnated". In the 2025 article for The New York Times, Hugh Morris described Kantorow as "a pianist from a different era", and notes that Kantorow feels "uncomfortable performing Bach in public". Morris also notes that after prestigious awards, Kantorow did not change: "he remains with the same general manager and piano teacher he has had since he was 16. Rather than signing with a major label, he remained with Bis, the small, committed Swedish label that became part of the Apple-owned Platoon in 2023". == Discography ==

Kantorow's first recording was an album of French sonatas recorded together with his father in 2014. In 2015, his father conducted at Alexandre's recording of Liszt's concertos. == References ==