Alexandre Kantorow & Daniel Lozakovich Recital

Gauche : Alexandre Kantorow. Droite : Daniel Lozakovich. Photo © Fondation Louis Vuitton / Martin Raphaël Martiq

Date
26 September 2022 – 8:30pm
Place
Auditorium

The first is a rising star of the piano whose dazzling career was launched by his success, at the age of 22, at the Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow in 2019. The second is a 21-year-old virtuoso of Swedish origin who signed, at the age of 15, with the legendary Deutsch Gramophone label and became the protégé of Valery Gergiev.

For this concert, Alexandre Kantorow and Daniel Lozakovich combine their talents to present a programme devoted to sonatas for violin and piano by the greatest German and French Romantic composers: the ardent, delicate lyricism of Johannes Brahms contrasts with Schumann’s fiery intensity and the refined elegance of César Franck. Nothing less than the musical genius of these two exceptional artists – acclaimed by the press as the “Young Tsar of the Piano" and the “Young Prince of the Violin” – would suffice to present to the audience of the Fondation Louis Vuitton Auditorium this recital fit for a king!

This concert will be available on live stream and replay on medici.tv, the Fondation's website as well as on delay on Mezzo and Radio Classique.

The artists

Alexandre Kantorow

Piano
In 2019, aged 22, Alexandre Kantorow became the first French pianist to win the Gold Medal at the Tchaikovsky Competition, where he also won the Grand Prix, which has only been awarded three times before in the competition’s history. Hailed by critics as the “Young Tsar of the Piano” (Classica) and “Liszt reincarnated” (Fanfare), he has received numerous other awards and has been invited to perform worldwide at the highest level.


Mr Kantorow began performing professionally at an early age, making his debut at the La Folle Journée festival in Nantes at just 16 years of age. Since then, he has played with many of the world’s major orchestras, including regular appearances with the Mariinsky Orchestra under Valery Gergiev. Highlights in the coming season include concerts with the Orchestre de Paris, Staatskappelle Berlin, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Philharmonia, Royal Stockholm Philharmonic, as well as tours with the Orchestre National de Toulouse, Budapest Festival Orchestra and the Munich Philharmonic.


He has performed solo recitals at major concert halls across Europe, such as the Amsterdam Concertgebouw in their Master Pianists series, the Konzerthaus Berlin, Philharmonie de Paris, BOZAR in Brussels and Stockholm Konserthus. He has also appeared at some of the most prestigious festivals, including La Roque d’Anthéron, Piano aux Jacobins, the Verbier Festival and Klavierfest Ruhr. Chamber music is another of his great pleasures and he regularly performs with Victor Julien-Laferrière, Renaud Capuçon, Daniel Lozakovich and Matthias Goerne.


Mr Kantorow records exclusively with BIS. His most recent recording (solo works by Brahms) received the 2022 Diapason d’Or. His two previous recordings (Saint-Saëns concerti 3-5 and solo works by Brahms, Bartok and Liszt) each received the Diapason d’Or and Choc Classica of the Year in 2019 and 2020, respectively. The solo disc was Gramophone magazine’s Editor’s Choice, his performance described as “a further remarkable example of his virtuosity and artistry, showing both skill and sensitivity throughout”. His earlier recital recordings, entitled à la Russe, also won numerous awards and distinctions, including the 2017 Choc de l’Année (Classica), Diapason découverte (Diapason), Supersonic (Pizzicata) and CD des Doppelmonats (PianoNews).


Mr 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 France’s Victoires de la Musique Classique in two categories: Recording of the Year and Instrumental Soloist of the Year.


Born in France of Franco-British heritage, he has studied with Pierre-Alain Volondat, Igor Lazko, Frank Braley and Rena Shereshevskaya.

Daniel Lozakovich

Daniel Lozakovich, whose music-making leaves both critics and audiences spellbound, has become one of today’s most sought-after violinists.  The 2024/25 season leads him to perform with some of the most prestigious orchestras and conductors including an intensive collaboration with Tarmo Peltokoski throughout the season: Hong Kong Philharmonic, Philharmonia Zurich, Israel Philharmonic on tour, Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse, Bayerische Staatsorchester and NHK Symphony Orchestra. 

The season also includes debuts with Orchestra Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia and Thomas Guggeis, as well as return visits as soloist with the Swedish Radio Symphony with Kazuki Yamada, Lucerne Festival Orchestra under Ricardo Chailly on tour to Philharmonies in Paris and Hamburg, Orchestre National de France with Suzanna Mälkki, London Philharmonic and Dima Slobodeniuk, and Philharmonia Orchestra under Tugan Sokhiev’s baton. He also reunites with the WDR Sinfonieorchester and Cristian Măcelaru for a tour in Germany. He also has his Australian debut with Queensland Symphony under Gábor Káli, as well as Sydney Symphony Orchestra conducted by Tomáš Netopil.

In recital, he joins legendary pianist Mikhail Pletnev for a debut album on Warner Classics, leading him to concerts in Taipei, Kaohsiung, Vienna Musikverein, Berlin Philharmonie, Amsterdam Concertgebouw and Munich Herkulesaal. He also returns to Wigmore Hall with long-time musical partner Alexander Kantorow.

Daniel Lozakovich regularly performs with leading orchestras such as Chicago, Cleveland, Pittsburgh and Boston symphony orchestras, Philadelphia Orchestra, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, San Diego Symphony, São Paulo State Symphony Orchestra, BBC Symphony at the BBC Proms, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Budapest Festival Orchestra, Netherlands Philharmonic, Filarmonica della Scala in Teatro Alla Scala, Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale della Rai, Orquesta Sinfónica de Galicia, Royal Danish Orchestra, Royal Stockholm Philharmonic, Oslo Philharmonic , Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte-Carlo, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Orchestre Philharmonique de Luxembourg, Singapore Symphony Orchestra, Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra, and Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra. He regularly performs with eminent conductors such as Klaus Mäkelä, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Andris Nelsons, Ádám Fischer, Semyon Bychkov, Christoph Eschenbach, Nathalie Stutzmann, Neeme Järvi, Valery Gergiev, Andrés Orozco-Estrada, Vasily Petrenko, Lahav Shani, Lorenzo Viotti, Fabien Gabel, Osmo Vänskä and Rafael Payare.

As a highly sought-after recitalist, he has made appearances in historical theatres and halls such as Carnegie Hall, Amsterdam Concertgebouw, Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, Fondation Louis Vuitton, Tonhalle Zürich, Victoria Hall Geneva, Conservatorio G. Verdi Milan, The Mariinsky Theatre and more. On tour, he has regularly appeared in esteemed concert halls such as the Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, Concertgebouw Amsterdam and Konzerthaus Wien. Lozakovich is a regular at international music festivals, including the Verbier Festival, Gstaad Menuhin Festival, Sommets musicaux de Gstaad, Baltic Sea Festival, White Nights Festival, Festival de Pâques – Aix-en-Provence, Tanglewood Music Festival, Blossom Music Festival, Pacific Music Festival, Corinthian Summer Music Festival in Austria, Colmar Festival, Festival de Saint-Denis, Tsinandali Festival, among many others.

As a chamber music performer, he has collaborated with such artists as Klaus Mäkelä, Yuja Wang, Emanuel Ax, Ivry Gitlis, Sergei Babayan, Martin Fröst, Renaud and Gautier Capuçon, Mischa Maisky, Alexandre Kantorow, Behzod Abduraimov and David Fray.

In March 2024, he signed an exclusive contract with Warner Classics with a first album featuring pianist Mikhail Pletnev playing Franck’s Sonata for Violin and Piano, Grieg’s Violin Sonata No.3 and Solveig’s Song from Peer Gynt, Shostakovich’s Romance from The Gadfly and a Violin Sonata jointly composed by Alexi Shor and Pletnev himself. Daniel Lozakovich has already achieved considerable acclaim on record, having been signed by Deutsche Grammophon at just 15 years old. His recording of Bach’s two violin concertos (Kammerorchester des Symphonieorchesters des Bayerischen Rundfunks, 2018) reached number one in the all-music category of the French Amazon charts and the classical album charts in Germany. His live recording of None But The Lonely Heart (National Philharmonic of Russia, Vladimir Spivakov, 2019) was named by Gramophone as Top Choice spanning 70 years of best recordings of Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto. In 2020 he released his highly acclaimed live recording of Beethoven’s Violin Concerto (Münchner Philharmoniker, Valery Gergiev, 2020). His latest album, Spirits (2023) pays tribute to seven of the most iconic violinists of the 20th century.

Lozakovich has been awarded many prizes including first prize at the 2016 Vladimir Spivakov International Violin Competition and the Young Artist of the Year 2017 award at the Festival of Nations, the Premio Batuta Award in Mexico, and the Excelentia Prize under the honorary presidency of Queen Sofia of Spain. Lozakovich studied at the Hochschule für Musik Karlsruhe with Professor Josef Rissin from 2012 and graduated with Master’s Degree in 2021.

Born in Stockholm in 2001, he began playing the violin at the age of seven. He made his solo debut two years later with Moscow Virtuosi and Vladimir Spivakov. From 2015 has been mentored by Eduard Wulfson in Geneva. Daniel Lozakovich plays the “ex-Sancy” 1713 Stradivari generously loaned by LVMH / MOËT HENNESSY LOUIS VUITTON.

The programme

César Franck
Sonate pour violon et piano FWV 8
Johannes Brahms
Sonate pour violon et piano n°2 op. 100
Robert Schumann
Sonate pour violon et piano n°1 op.105

In partnership with Radio Classique, medici.tv et Mezzo