Pianist Alexandre Kantorow has played the music of Liszt and has the explosive quality the young Liszt himself must have had. He was the winner of the gold medal at the 2019 Tchaikovsky Competition. The son of violinist-conductor Jean-Jacques Kantorow, Alexandre was groomed for a career as a pianist for most of his life. He made his debut at 16 with the Sinfonia Varsovia, performing Rachmaninov's fearsome Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini. Kantorow made his recording debut in 2015 with an album that included Liszt's rarely played Malédiction, with the Tapiola Sinfonietta under his father's baton. His interests extend beyond traditional repertory, and he has performed Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue, in its original jazz band version, at French chamber music festivals. In 2022, joined once more by his father leading the Tapiola Sinfonietta, Kantorow issued a recording of concertos by Saint-Saëns.