Paul Cantor: A Masterclass with Paul Kantor – October 17, 2026: 2:30 – 4:30 pm Eastern Time

Biography

Paul Kantor is currently the Sallie Shepherd Perkins Professor of Violin at the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University having previously served as the Eleanor H. Biggs Distinguished Professor of Violin at the Cleveland Institute of Music. He received his Bachelor of Music and Master of Music degrees from The Juilliard School studying violin with Dorothy DeLay and chamber music with Robert Mann. For thirteen years he served as Chair of the String Department at the University of Michigan and has taught at The Juilliard School, New England Conservatory and Yale University. He continues as Artist in Residence at the Glenn Gould School of Music/ Royal Conservatory of Music since his appointment in 2008. Along with his son, violinist Timothy Kantor, he founded and directs the Gabriel Del Orbe Violin Program in the Dominican Republic.

Additionally, he has presented masterclasses at the Starling-Delay Symposium, Indiana University, Eastman School of Music, University of Southern California and the New World Symphony, among others. His students consistently win major awards at important violin competitions, including the Indianapolis, Montreal, Stulberg, Buenos Aires, Klein, and Fischoff competitions.

For the past 37 years, he has been on the Artist/Faculty of the Aspen Music Festival & School, where he has been concertmaster of both the Festival Orchestra and the Chamber Symphony. He has performed as soloist with numerous symphony orchestras as well as serving as concertmaster of the New Haven Symphony, Lausanne Chamber Orchestra and the Great Lakes Festival Orchestra. Kantor was a member of The New York and Lenox string quartets, Berkshire Chamber Players and the National Musical Arts Chamber Ensemble in Washington, D.C.

Mr. Kantor has performed world premieres of Dan Welcher’s Violin Concerto, (subsequently recorded with Larry Rachleff and Symphony II) as well as John Corigliano’s Red Violin Caprices. His recordings can be found on the labels of Equilibrium, CRI, Delos and Mark Records. In 2014, he was honored with the Artist Teacher Award from the American String Teachers Association.