The extent of his talent was recognized while Kavakos was still in his teens, when he won the Sibelius competition in 1985 and then the Paganini competition in 1988. As a result, he received invitations from all corners of the world and his reputation soared.

Kavakos now appears in concert with the world's great orchestras and conductors both in Europe and in North America, in addition to regular visits to renowned festivals worldwide and to his appearances in chamber music and recital series. In the current season, Kavakos appears with the Berlin Philharmonic, Budapest Festival Orchestra, Cleveland Orchestra, Gustav Mahler Jugendorchester, Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, La Scala Filharmonica, Leipzig Gewandhausorchester, London Philharmonic Orchestra, London Symphony Orchestra, Mariinsky Theatre Orchestra, NDR Symphonieorchester Hamburg, Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra and Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich and at the Ravenna Festival with Riccardo Chailly. Other conductors Kavakos will be working with include Herbert Blomstedt, Pierre Boulez, Christoph von Dohnanyi, Valery Gergiev, Ivan Fischer, Daniel Harding, Zubin Mehta, Christian Thielemann and Osmo Vänskä.

In October 2007, Kavakos took up the position of Artistic Director of the Camerata Salzburg, succeeding Sir Roger Norrington. Together they perform twice each season in the Camerata's Abonnement series in the Mozarteum, Salzburg as well as appearing at the Salzburg Festival, the Mozartwoche and in their own festival, the Begegnung. Kavakos has taken the orchestra on tour to Italy, Germany, Spain and Greece and in February 2006, he presented the Camerata Salzburg in his own festival at the Megaron, Athens. This was a series of three Mozart programs in which he played the five concerti and conducted three late symphonies. The concerts were recorded and have been released by Sony to wide acclaim. Kavakos is an established chamber musician and collaborates with many distinguished partners - Heinrich Schiff, Natalia Gutman, Emanuel Ax, Lars Vogt, Elisabeth Leonskaya. Last season he appeared in a variety of chamber music concerts at the Verbier Festival and gave recitals throughout England, Germany and Italy. He appears in most seasons at the Salzburg Festival, and at the Wigmore Hall. In October 2006, the Concertgebouw presented Kavakos in a weekend of recitals and in concert with the Camerata Salzburg.

In addition to his most recent disc of the Mozart concerti with the Camerata Salzburg, Kavakos has a distinguished catalogue of recordings. In 1991, he won the Gramophone Award for the first recording ever of the original version of Sibelius' violin concerto (1903/04) on BIS. Further recordings include the violin concerto by Hindemith with the BBC Philharmonic (Chandos), solo sonatas by Ysaÿe (BIS), works by Debussy, Kreisler, Paganini et al (Delos) as well as Sibelius' Humoresques (Finlandia). In 2003, ECM released his recording of sonatas by Enescu and Ravel together with pianist Péter Nagy. His recording for ECM of works by Bach and Stravinsky was praised widely. Leonidas Kavakos plays the "Falmouth" Stradivarius of 1692.

• His page on Classical Archives.