An episode of Tom and Jerry : the cat plate agreements of a Rhapsody of Liszt, the mouse makes funny faces. Alexandre Kantorow explains that everything started from a cartoon seen on television. Years later, music lovers around the world have watched the pianist of 22 years to triumph during the Sixteenth edition of the Tchaikovsky competition, in Moscow. The most prestigious international competitions, often regarded as the olympics of the classical music, he was awarded first prize. A first for a Frenchman since its creation in 1958.

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Since the 17th of June, the beginning of the competition that we can follow up on Le Figaro with Medici TV , Alexandre Kantorow has been worn the colors of the Hexagon. It has passed the first round and the semi-finals with flying colors. In the final, with orchestra, while most of its competitors had opted for the first concerto of Tchaikovsky, the pianist has preferred to play the second, less well known. He has performed brilliantly, combining listening to the orchestra, clarity of game, power and lyricism. Qualities that have not escaped to the master of the instrument that were part of the jury; Nelson Freire and Denis Matsuev.

Unlike Lucas Debargue, the revelation of the edition 2015 of the Tchaikovsky competition came in the fourth position, Alexandre Kantorow was not an unknown prior to the beginning of the competition. In January of this year, he was appointed to the Revelations to the Victories of the classical music. Whether at the Concertgebouw Amsterdam, the Konzerthaus of Berlin or to Paris, the Fondation Louis Vuitton, the young man has already walked the prestigious stages. And festivals recognized, The Roque d’anthéron, the Nights at the Piano of Erbalunga. At age 17, he participated in the inaugural season of the Philharmonie de Paris, with the Orchestre Pasdeloup in front of 2500 spectators.

Rena Shereshevskaya fact of the miracles

in Spite of his exceptional qualities, Alexandre Kantorow has not the reputation of other young prodigies. Because he took the time probably to emancipate from his father, Jean-Jacques Kantorow, violinist and conductor considered. Together, they have recorded a cd in 2014, the French sonatas of Camille Chevillard and Gabriel Fauré. At the time, Jean-Jacques Kantorow admired her “musical identity” as 16-year-old only his son already possessed.

Alexandre Kantorow has been to the right school. One of Rena Shereshevskaya. Professor at the École Normale de Musique de Paris – Alfred Cortot, the teacher of Russian has trained the best pianists of the young generation, such Rémi Geniet, came second at the Queen Elisabeth competition of Belgium in 2013, and Lucas Debargue, who shone in the Tchaikovsky competition in 2015. Rena Shereshevskaya, not restricted to an approach in school, but manages to awaken the musical personalities. “The role of the teacher is not limited to the classroom,” she repeats to the environment.

● Alexandre Kantorow interpreting an extract of the Night no. 6 Gabriel Fauré

“for a Long time, I regarded the piano as an activity to the side, without thinking too much about it as a profession,” explained Alexandre Kantorow at the microphone of France Music in January. When the click has happened? “Maybe at the time of the ferry, by too lazy to register on Admission Post-Bac,” he replied, with a joyous abandon. Before that, he had to become a cosmonaut. By winning the Tchaikovsky competition, he has just joined the stars of the classical music sacred in Moscow, Van Cliburn, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Grigory Sokolov or Mikhail Pletnev.