Leonidas Kavakos

Leonidas Kavakos is recognized across the world as a violinist and artist of rare quality, acclaimed for his matchless technique, his captivating artistry, his superb musicianship, and the integrity of his playing. He performs regularly with the world’s greatest orchestras and conductors and plays as recitalist in the world’s premier recital halls and festivals.

Mr. Kavakos has developed close relationships with major orchestras such as the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, Berlin Philharmonic, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, London Symphony Orchestra, and Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra. He also works closely with the Dresden Staatskapelle, Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, Munich Philharmonic, Budapest Festival Orchestra, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Academia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, Orchestra Filarmonica della Scala, as well as the major United States orchestras.

In recent years, Mr. Kavakos has built a strong profile as a conductor and has conducted the New York Philharmonic, Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, Dallas Symphony, Vienna Philharmonic, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Chamber Orchestra of Europe, Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, Filarmonica della Scala, and the Danish National Symphony Orchestra. Most recently he had great success conducting the Israel Philharmonic.

In the 2023-2024 season, Mr. Kavakos performs at the opening gala of Carnegie Hall with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Riccardo Muti. On the same visit to the Unites States, he will perform with the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra under Esa-Pekka Salonen. Mr. Kavakos will tour throughout Europe with the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, as well as return to Staatskapelle Berlin, NDR Hamburg, the Bergen Symphony, the Vienna Philharmonic, and the Boston Symphony. He also conducts the Philharmonia Orchestra in London for the first time, as well as the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France. Mr. Kavakos will tour with regular recital partners Emanuel Ax and Yo-Yo Ma to concert halls across Europe and the United States and will return to China for a series of recitals and performances with the China Philharmonic and Shanghai Symphony. He will also perform Bach’s Partitas and Sonatas across Europe and Asia, following the recent release of his critically acclaimed album Bach: Sei Solo .

Mr. Kavakos is an exclusive recording artist with Sony Classics. Releases have included the Beethoven Violin Concerto which he conducted and played with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, and the re-release of his 2007 recording of the complete Beethoven Sonatas with Enrico Pace, for which he was named Echo Klassik Instrumentalist of the Year.  In 2022 Mr. Kavakos released Beethoven for Three: Symphony No. 6 “Pastorale” and Op.1, No. 3 arranged for trio, with Emanuel Ax and Yo-Yo Ma. Further albums from this series containing arrangements of Beethoven symphonies will be released in coming years. He has been Gramophone Magazine Artist of the Year.

Born and brought up in a musical family in Athens, Mr. Kavakos curates an annual violin and chamber-music masterclass in Athens, which attracts violinists and ensembles from all over the world. He plays the ‘Willemotte’ Stradivarius violin of 1734.