Kantorow was born in
Cannes, France, into a family of Russian-Jewish origin. From the age of 13, he studied at the
Paris Conservatoire with René Benedetti, and in 1960 won the first violin prize. In the 1960s, he won ten major international prizes, including first prizes in the
Carl Flesch Competition (
London), the (
Genoa)
Paganini Competition, and the
Geneva International Competition. Since the 1970s, he has been noted for his solo performances in a very wide range of repertoire (from
Baroque music to contemporary), and as a chamber music performer. His recordings have won many awards, including the
Grand Prix du Disque and the
Grand Prix de l'Académie Franz Liszt. He held senior positions at the
Strasbourg and Rotterdam conservatories and at the
Conservatoire de Paris, until his retirement from conservatoire violin pedagogy. He continues to teach privately and to give master-classes. According to
Grove Music Online, "Kantorow has an infallible technique and a beauty of tone which combines the best features of the French and Russian schools." He plays a
Stradivarius attributed violin, the "ex-
Leopold Auer", dated 1699. In the 1980s, Kantorow began a separate career as conductor, becoming principal conductor of the Auvergne Chamber Orchestra and later the Ensemble Orchestral de Paris. He has longstanding conducting engagements with other European orchestras, including the
Netherlands Chamber Orchestra, the
Tapiola Sinfonietta of Finland, the Helsinki Chamber Orchestra, and the
Lausanne Chamber Orchestra. From 2004 to 2008, he was principal director of the
Orquesta Ciudad de Granada in Spain. In 2019, his son
Alexandre Kantorow won the First Prize and Gold Medal at the
International Tchaikovsky Competition piano category. == Selected recordings ==