Leonidas Kavakos
violin
About this Artist
Leonidas Kavakos is recognized across the world as a violinist and artist of rare quality. Acclaimed for his captivating artistry, superb musicianship, matchless technique, and the integrity of his playing, Kavakos performs with the world’s leading orchestras as both soloist and conductor, and in recital at the world’s premier venues.
In 2022, Kavakos founded the ApollΩn Ensemble, a chamber group of elite Greek musicians who are in increasing demand internationally, and in 2025 he takes over as Artistic Director of the Classic Revolution Festival at Lotte Concert Hall, Seoul.
Highlights of Kavakos’s 2025/26 season include performances with the Concertgebouw Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony, Frankfurt Radio Symphony, NHK Symphony, NDR Symphony, Santa Cecilia, and the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, as well as conducting engagements with the Czech Philharmonic, Philharmonia, Barcelona Symphony, and Minnesota Orchestra. He appears in recital in London, Milan, Oslo, Budapest, Zagreb, and elsewhere; with the ApollΩn Ensemble he performs at the Edinburgh International, Verbier, and Santander festivals, as well as London’s Wigmore Hall and Vienna’s Musikverein.
Kavakos’s extensive and award-winning discography includes the Brahms Violin Concerto with the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig and Riccardo Chailly (Decca), and the Beethoven Violin Concerto, which he also conducted with the Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks (Sony Classical). He was named ECHO Klassik Instrumentalist of the Year for his recording of the complete Beethoven Sonatas with Enrico Pace. With Emanuel Ax and Yo-Yo Ma, Kavakos has released a series of trio recordings to the highest critical acclaim. With the ApollΩn Ensemble, he has recorded Bach’s Violin Concertos.
Kavakos curates an annual violin and chamber music masterclass in Athens, where he was born and raised in a musical family. In 2022, he was elected by the Academy of Athens as a member of the Chair of Music in the Second Class of Letters and Fine Arts for his services to music. In 2024, he was appointed Professor of Violin at the Basel Academy of Music. Kavakos plays the ‘Willemotte’ Stradivari violin of 1734.