Alexandre Kantorow Receives 2024 Gilmore Artist Award

French pianist Alexandre Kantorow has been named the recipient of the 2024 Gilmore Artist Award. The Award was announced by Dr. Pierre van der Westhuizen, Executive and Artistic Director of the Irving S. Gilmore International Piano Festival. The Gilmore Artist Award is presented on a non-competitive basis to an exceptional pianist who, regardless of age or nationality, is a performing artist and a profound musician with both charisma and breadth of musicianship; who desires a performing career as a major international concert artist and can make a real impact on music; and whose developing career can benefit from the enhancement of the Award's money and prestige. Often referred to as music’s answer to the MacArthur Foundation “genius grants,” Mr. Kantorow receives $300,000: a $50,000 cash grant to be used at his discretion and $250,000 that is typically dispersed over a four-year period for projects and activities that will enhance his musicianship and career. 

Previous recipients of the Gilmore Artist Award are Igor Levit (2018), Rafał Blechacz (2014), Kirill Gerstein (2010), Ingrid Fliter (2006), Piotr Anderszewski (2002), Leif Ove Andsnes (1998), Ralf Gothóni (1994), and David Owen Norris (1991). The 2024 Gilmore Artist Award is the first to be conferred under the tenure of Pierre van der Westhuizen.

Pierre van der Westhuizen said, “I first heard Kantorow in person in late 2019 performing  for Beethoven’s Fourth Piano Concerto. His powerfully passionate and charming approach was thrilling in every respect; full of nuance and color. He had a sensitivity that was hair-raising, but massive power when called for. Kantorow remains one of the few pianists working today who leaves me quite breathless and feeling musically fulfilled in every way. In all the performances I’ve heard since, I found him inquisitive and musically curious, and he gave the impression that the musical discovery is, for him, a personal discovery and lifelong journey. While fast establishing himself in Europe, I’m excited for the spotlight that the Gilmore Award brings to this important artist here in the U.S. and beyond. He embodies every aspect of what we are looking for in a Gilmore Artist, and I am thrilled and honored to welcome him to this select and illustrious slate of pianists who continue to make enormous impact on the musical world.”

Alexandre Kantorow said, “I’m deeply grateful and honored to receive the Gilmore Artist Award. I thank Pierre and the members of the Artistic Advisory Committee for the time, effort and energy they spent in reaching a decision which will change my life. For an artist at the beginning of his musical journey, this support feels like such a gift (and that is enhanced by the very surprising way I learned the news!). Taking the next steps will be very exciting and challenging, as I set out to find the right creative musical choices that reflect the prestige and trust which was put in me by the Gilmore Nomination and Award Committees.”

Mr. Kantorow gives his first performance as Gilmore Artist in a special event at the Dalton Center Recital Hall in Kalamazoo, Michigan on September 17, 2023 at 2:00 p.m. ET. Hosted by GBH Music’s Brian McCreath, the event features Mr. Kantorow playing Brahms’ Sonata No. 1 in C Major, Op. 1, Liszt’s transcriptions of Schubert’s Der Müller und der Bach and Die Stadt (from Schwanengesang), and Brahms’ transcription of Bach’s Chaconne for left hand, followed by an onstage conversation with Mr. Kantorow, Dr. van der Westhuizen, and Elizabeth Ostrow, Chair of the Artistic Advisory Committee. The event will be livestreamed at www.thegilmore.org, as well as by The Gilmore’s streaming partners including Gramophone, International Piano, Steinway, and The Violin Channel, A radio broadcast of the event will also be produced and heard on Boston’s GBH Music at a later date.

Alexandre Kantorow, 26, has been praised by Gramophone Magazine as "the real deal, a fire-breathing virtuoso with a poetic charm and innate stylistic mastery." Born in France and of French-British heritage, he studied with Pierre-Alain Volondat, Igor Lazko, Frank Braley, and Rena Shereshevskaya. At age 16, he made his debut at La Folle Journée festival in Nantes and since then has played with many of the world’s major orchestras. In 2019, at the age of 22, he made history as 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. Kantorow is a laureate of the Safran Foundation and Banque Populaire, and in 2019 was named ‘Musical Revelation of the Year’ by the Professional Critics Association. In 2020, he won the Victoires de la Musique Classique in two categories: Recording of the Year and Instrumental Soloist of the Year. In 2021, he received the Trophée d’Année from Radio Classique. Mr. Kantorow records exclusively with BIS.

This season, Mr. Kantorow makes his New York recital debut at Carnegie Hall on October 22, 2023 at 2:00 p.m. ET playing Brahms’ Piano Sonata No. 1, Bach’s Chaconne from Violin Partita No. 2 in D minor arranged by Brahms for piano left-hand, Schubert works arranged by Liszt including Der Wanderer, Der Müller und der Bach, Frühlingsglaube, Die Stadt and Am Meer from Schwanengesang, and Schubert’s Fantasie in C major, Op. 15, D. 760, "Wanderer Fantasy." Additionally this fall, he performs the same program on a recital tour of Japan with performances in Yokohama (Oct 6), Shizuoka (Oct 8), Osaka (Oct 11), and Tokyo (Oct 17); and plays recitals in Cologne (Nov 6), Paris (Nov 9), Lisbon (Nov 11), and Frankfurt (Nov 13). He also performs Liszt’s Piano Concerto No. 2 with the Berlin Philharmonic (Sep 28-30), Saint-Saëns’ Piano Concerto No. 5 with the Orchestre de Paris in Paris (Nov 15) and Vienna (Nov 17), and Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 1 with the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra (Nov 22 & 23).

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