Violinist and conductor Jean-Jacques Kantorow is a multiple violin competition winner who has served as the artistic director of several international orchestras.

Born in Cannes, France, violinist and conductor Jean-Jacques Kantorow moved from his hometown at the age of 13 to study at the Paris Conservatory, where he graduated in violin performance after just one year of study.

A multiple violin competition winner, Kantorow has performed as a soloist all over the world and grew into conducting as an orchestra leader, serving in that capacity with the Orchestre de Paris in 1977 and 1978, and with the Netherlands Chamber Orchestra (1978-1984).

He became the Principal Conductor of the Auvergne Chamber Orchestra in 1985 and of the Ensemble Orchestral de Paris in 1993. He also held substantial conducting engagements with various ensembles outside France, including the Netherlands Chamber Orchestra, the BBC Chamber Orchestra, and Finland’s Tapiola Sinfonietta, Orquesta Ciudad de Granada and Helsinki Chamber Orchestra, serving as Artistic Director of the Helsinki group.

Increasingly, his résumé has included major teaching positions at conservatories in Strasbourg and Rotterdam and at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris.