Leonidas Kavakos is recognised across the world as a violinist and artist of rare quality, acclaimed for his matchless technique, his captivating artistry and his superb musicianship as well as for the integrity of his playing. He works with the world’s greatest orchestras and conductors and plays as recitalist in the world’s premier recital halls and festivals.

Leonidas Kavakos has developed close relationships with major orchestras such as the Vienna Philharmonic, the Berlin Philharmonic, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, the London Symphony Orchestra and the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra. He also works with the Dresden Staatskapelle, the orchestras of the Bavarian Radio, the Munich Philharmonic, the Budapest Festival, the Orchestre de Paris, the National Academy of St Cecilia and the La Scala Philharmonic.

In recent years Leonidas Kavakos has built up a strong profile as a conductor and has led the New York Philharmonic, the Houston, Dallas and Vienna Symphony Orchestras, the Gürzenich Orchestra Cologne, the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, the Chamber Orchestra of Europe, the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, the Filarmonica Teatro La Fenice and the Danish National Symphony Orchestra.

Leonidas Kavakos is an exclusive recording artist of Sony Classics. Recent releases on the occasion of Beethoven's 250th anniversary include the Beethoven Violin Concerto, which he conducted and performed with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, and the reissue of his recording of the complete Beethoven sonatas with Enrico Pace in 2007, for which he was named Echo Klassik Instrumentalist of the Year.

Born and raised in a musical family in Athens, Leonidas Kavakos organises an annual violin and chamber music masterclass in Athens, which attracts violinists and ensembles from all over the world. He plays a 1734 Stradivarius "Willemotte" violin.