THE FESTIVAL
MUSIKFEST
Musikfest is a chamber music festival held every spring. Conceived during the first lockdown in March 2020 by violinist Liya Petrova, it was France’s first 100% digital festival, at a time when musicians could neither pursue their profession nor stay connected with their audience.
ARTISTIC DIRECTION
LIYA PETROVA
Liya Petrova came to international attention when she won First Prize at the Carl Nielsen International Violin Competition in Denmark in 2016. Liya is invited to perform with numerous orchestras, including the Orchestre de Paris, the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in London, the Orchestre National de Lyon, the Luxembourg Philharmonic Orchestra, the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, the China National Symphony Orchestra, the Hungarian National Orchestra, the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, Brussels Philharmonic, the Orchestre National de Bordeaux-Aquitaine, the Orchestre Philharmonique de Strasbourg, Symfonieorkest Vlaanderen, the Philharmonie ZuidNederland, the Belgian National Orchestra, the Staatskapelle Weimar and the Tokyo Philharmonic, under conductors such as Stanislav Kochanovsky, Elim Chan, Duncan Ward, Tan Dun, Aziz Shokhakimov, Michael Schonwandt, Michael Sanderling, Martyn Brabbins, Nil Venditti, Kirill Karabits, Martijn Dendievel, Alexander Liebreich, Krzysztof Penderecki, Nikolaj Szeps-Znaider, Diego Fasolis, Jan Willem de Vriend, Yan Tortelier, Xian Zhang, Kristiina Poska, Christopher Warren-Green, Ariane Matiakh and Jesús López Cobos. In autumn 2024, Liya premiered Philippe Hersant’s violin concerto “Cansos”, dedicated to her, with the Orchestre de Pau Pays de Béarn and its musical director Fayçal Karoui. As a chamber musician, Liya regularly performs with pianists Alexandre Kantorow, Beatrice Rana, Pavel Kolesnikov, Eric Le Sage and Adam Laloum, and cellists Pablo Ferrandez, Aurélien Pascal and Victor Julien-Laferrière. She has also collaborated with Martha Argerich, Yuja Wang, Emmanuel Pahud, Paul Meyer, Renaud Capuçon, Augustin Dumay, Yuri Bashmet, Antoine Tamestit, Mischa Maisky, Gautier Capuçon and Pablo Ferrandez. Liya is invited to perform at festivals including the Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Festival, Rheingau Musik Festival, Ludwigsburger Schlossfestspiele, Festival de Saint-Denis, Festival de Radio France Montpellier, Festival de la Roque d’Anthéron, Festival de Menton, Fêtes Musicales en Touraine at the Grange de Meslay, Festival de Pâques d’Aix-en-Provence and Rencontres Musicales d’Évian. Liya has recorded for the Mirare label since 2020. In spring 2023, she released Momentum 1, the first part of a two-album collaboration with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in London under Duncan Ward, featuring Walton’s Violin Concerto and Respighi’s Sonata with pianist Adam Laloum. The album received excellent reviews and was named a Gramophone Editor’s Choice and a BBC Music Magazine Orchestral Choice. It was preceded by two recordings for Mirare: an album of sonatas by Beethoven, Barber and Britten with pianist Boris Kusnezow, followed by a second album featuring Beethoven’s Concerto and Mozart’s Violin Concerto No. 7, conducted by Jean-Jacques Kantorow and performed with the Sinfonia Varsovia. Before that, Liya recorded Nielsen’s Concerto and Prokofiev’s First Concerto with the Odense Symphony Orchestra and Kristiina Poska for Orchid Classics. All these recordings have received unanimous acclaim. In spring 2020, while the world was still in lockdown, she launched Musikfest Parisienne at Salle Cortot in Paris. The festival has been a great success every year. In 2022, she founded Rencontres Musicales de Nîmes with her friends Alexandre Kantorow and Aurélien Pascal; the trio serves as its artistic directors. Liya Petrova was born in Bulgaria into a family of musicians and studied with Augustin Dumay at the Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel, Antje Weithaas at the Hochschule für Musik Hanns Eisler in Berlin and Renaud Capuçon at the Haute École de Musique de Lausanne. Liya plays the Guarneri del Gesu “Rovelli” (1742), thanks to the generous support of a private patron, and the Guarneri del Gesu “Consolo” (1733), with the support of the Bulgarian state.
ARTISTIC DIRECTION
ALEXANDRE KANTOROW
In 2019, at the age of 22, Alexandre Kantorow became the first French pianist to win First Prize at the Tchaikovsky Competition, as well as the Grand Prix, awarded only three times before in the competition's history. Hailed by critics as the “reincarnation of Liszt” (Fanfare Magazine), he received the 2024 Gilmore Artist Award, considered one of the most prestigious international piano awards and presented only every four years. He is the first French artist and the youngest-ever recipient of the Gilmore Artist Award.
Alexandre Kantorow began his career at a very young age, making his debut at La Folle Journée in Nantes with the Sinfonia Varsovia at the age of 16. Since then, he has performed with some of the world's most prestigious orchestras, including the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra with Manfred Honeck, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra with Vasily Petrenko at the BBC Proms in London, the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France with John Eliot Gardiner, the Mariinsky Orchestra with Valery Gergiev and the Budapest Festival Orchestra with Iván Fischer. Alexandre Kantorow has also appeared on prestigious international tours with the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra and Jaap van Zweden, and with the Orchestre national de France and Cristian Măcelaru.
In recital, he performs at leading concert halls such as Carnegie Hall's Stern Auditorium in New York, the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam as part of its Master Pianists series, the Konzerthaus in Vienna, the Philharmonie de Paris, Bozar in Brussels, Queen Elizabeth Hall and Wigmore Hall in London, and Tokyo City Opera, as well as at prestigious festivals including La Roque d'Anthéron, Ravinia Festival, Verbier Festival and Klavier-Festival Ruhr.
Highlights of the 2024/2025 season include Alexandre's debut with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, a European tour with the Munich Philharmonic conducted by Tugan Sokhiev, and his debut with the Orchestre Métropolitain conducted by Yannick Nézet-Séguin. He will also perform Brahms's Piano Concertos Nos. 1 and 2 with John Eliot Gardiner and the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France. He will make his China debut, including performances in Beijing and Shanghai, as part of an Asian tour. In chamber music, he will perform with Janine Jansen and tour with Gautier Capuçon.
Alexandre Kantorow records exclusively for BIS. In 2022, he won two Diapason d'Or de l'Année awards for his Brahms album and his Saint-Saëns album (Concertos Nos. 1 and 2). The latter, completing his recording of the concertos with the Tapiola Sinfonietta conducted by Jean-Jacques Kantorow, was praised by critics as “a definitive recording of the Saint-Saëns concertos” (Resmusica). It was also selected as Gramophone magazine's “Editor's Choice.” Both his previous recordings (Saint-Saëns Concertos Nos. 3, 4 and 5, and solo works by Brahms, Bartók and Liszt) received the Diapason d'Or and the Choc Classica of the Year in 2019 and 2020. Gramophone magazine describes his playing as “another outstanding example of his virtuosity and artistry, demonstrating skill and sensitivity from beginning to end.” His recital recording “À la russe” also won numerous awards and distinctions in 2017, including Choc de l'Année (Classica), Diapason Découverte, Supersonic (Pizzicato) and CD des Doppelmonats (PianoNews).
He is a laureate of the Fondation Safran and Banque Populaire. In 2020, he won two awards at the Victoires de la Musique Classique: Recording of the Year and Instrumental Soloist of the Year, the latter again in 2024.
In 2022, he became artistic director of the “Les Rencontres Musicales de Nîmes” festival with violinist Liya Petrova and cellist Aurélien Pascal.
In 2024, Alexandre Kantorow was made a Chevalier de l'Ordre National du Mérite by the French President. Two years earlier, in 2022, he was made a Chevalier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French Minister of Culture. In July 2024, Alexandre took part in the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympic Games.
Alexandre Kantorow studied with Pierre-Alain Volondat, Igor Lazko, Frank Braley and Rena Shereshevskaya.
Mr. Kantorow records exclusively for BIS, now part of Apple Music. All his recordings have been acclaimed by international critics and have received numerous awards, including several Diapason d'Or, Victoires de la Musique Classique and Trophée de l'Année awards. In 2022, he was featured in a full-page cover story in Gramophone magazine and named an Editor's Choice.
TEAM
TEAM
Philippe Bernhard
Director
Cyprien Brod
Production Manager