Leonidas Kavakos has established himself as a violinist and artist of rare quality, known at the highest level for his virtuosity, superb musicianship and integrity. The extent of his talent was recognized while Kavakos was still in his teens, winning first the Sibelius competition in 1985 and then the Paganini competition in 1988. Invitations to prestigious international festivals and orchestras soon followed.

Last season confirmed Kavakos’ status with highly successful performances with the London Philharmonic and Vladimir Jurowski, New York Philharmonic, BBC Symphony with David Robertson, Leipzig Gewandhaus and Herbert Blomstedt, Philadelphia Orchestra and Charles Dutoit, BBC Symphony with Osmo Vanska at the BBC Proms, the Israel Philharmonic and Zubin Mehta, Munich Philharmonic and Vienna Symphony both with Ingo Metzmacher, and the Berlin Philharmonic with Sir Simon Rattle.

In the next two seasons, Kavakos has been invited to appear with the Berlin Philharmonic on two separate occasions, including a performance at their prestigious annual Europa Konzert, which celebrates the anniversary of the orchestra’s foundation. In the United States, Kavakos will give concerts with the Philadelphia Orchestra and Wolfgang Sawallisch, San Francisco Symphony and Herbert Blomstedt, the National Symphony and Leonard Slatkin, the New York Philharmonic, Pittsburgh Symphony, Chicago Symphony and Montreal Symphony. In Europe he will return to the Munich Philharmonic with Christian Thielemann, Academia di Santa Cecilia with Vladimir Jurowski and Budapest Festival Orchestra with Charles Dutoit. He will also appear with Wolfgang Sawallisch and the Vienna Symphony, the NDR Hamburg and the Frankfurt Radio Symphony. He has also undertaken a number of orchestral tours - South America with the BBC Symphony, Germany with the Rotterdam Philharmonic and the US with the Kirov Orchestra and Valery Gergiev - and will give concerts in London, Moscow and Tel Aviv with the Israel Philharmonic and Zubin Mehta. In May 2005 he will give the world premiere in Athens of the violin concerto, Mahashatki, by Sir John Tavener, written specifically for him.
In tandem with his career as a soloist, Kavakos continues to develop his profile playing and directing and holds the title of Principal Guest Artist with the Camerata Salzburg. This relationship provides him with the opportunity to create programmes, and to conduct and play in the world’s most renowned venues with this celebrated ensemble. Recent tours were to Italy, Greece and Austria (Salzburg, Vienna, Salzburg Festival), and together with Chief Conductor, Roger Norrington, the Camerata, with Kavakos as soloist, gave a short tour of the USA. Further international concert tours are scheduled for this season (Italy, Germany, and Spain) in addition to Austrian subscription concerts in Salzburg and Vienna.

An established chamber musician, Leonidas Kavakos has collaborated with such distinguished partners as Heinrich Schiff, Nobuko Imai, Denes Varjon, Mstislav Rotropovich and Lars Vogt. Last season he appeared in a variety of chamber music concerts at Andras Schiff’s festival Ittingen Pfingstkonzerte and gave recitals at the Concertgebouw, at the Edinburgh Festival and in Italy. This season includes performances at the Verbier and Salzburg festivals and at the Wigmore Hall, London and sees the release of his latest recording for ECM on which he performs works by Bach and Stravinsky. Kavakos is also Artistic Director of his own chamber music season at the Megaron, Athens.

Leonidas Kavakos plays the "Falmouth" Stradivarius of 1692.

website: www.leonidaskavakos.com