Ľudovít Kanta

studied at the Bratislava Conservatory and the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague with Gustav Večerný and Alexander Večtomov. Kanta is a laureate of the Prague Spring (1980) and Beethoven's Hradec (1977) competitions. He worked as concertmaster of the cello group in the Slovak Philharmonic, and later as cello group leader in the Orchestra Ensemble Kanazawa in Japan. For many years he has also been teaching at Aichi Prefectural University of Fine Arts. Kanta has performed at national and international music festivals such as Affinis Music Festival, Ishikawa Music Academy, Yamanami International Music Festival, Aomori Music Festival, Karuizawa International Music Festival, Bratislava Music Festival, Kati Popova's Laureate Days in Pleven, and Niagara Music in Canada. He has performed several concerts in the United States (Chicago, Washington, etc.).

As a soloist he has performed with orchestras and conductors such as Zdeněk Košler, Jiří Bělohlávek, Hiroyuki Iwaki, Dmitry Kitajenko. He has collaborated with artists such as Yo-Yo Ma, Mstislav Rostropovich, Peter Schreier, Gidon Kremer, Shlomo Mintz, Günter Pichler, Jean-Pierre Wallez and others. He also performs and records with the ensemble Slovak Piano Trio with Marian Lapšanský and Ewald Danel, as well as with pianist Norbert Heller. Ľudovít Kanta regularly records for NHK. He has recorded 11 albums, including complete Beethoven sonatas and Bach suites. Some of the recordings have been awarded prizes in Japanese and foreign professional journals. His recording of the cello concertos of Joseph Haydn and Luigi Boccherini with the Capella Istropolitana Orchestra and Peter Breiner as conductor and author of the cadenzas (Naxos label) is well known. Kanta is known in Japan as a promoter of efficient and effective control of the instrument with minimal effort. He is a member of the jury of the National Japanese Cello Competition. He currently works as a freelance artist.