After he showed an early interest and ability for violin playing, his family moved to Moscow, where he was able to further his studies.

In 1951, Kogan won first prize at the Queen Elisabeth Competition in Brussels with a dazzling performance of Paganini's first concerto that included an outstanding interpretation of Sauret's cadenza.

His international solo tours took him to Paris and London in 1955, and then South America and the United States in the following years.

Kogan, a brilliant and compelling violinist who excelled in both the concerto repertoire and in chamber music, shunned publicity.

The bulk of his recordings were made in the Soviet Union, however, and their availability outside that country was very rare until the release of the Brilliant box set "Historic Russian Archives Leonid Kogan Edition" [4] Kogan was made a People's Artist of the USSR in 1964, and received the Lenin Prize in 1965.

Kogan died of a heart attack in the city of Mytishchi, while travelling by train between Moscow and Yaroslavl to a concert he was to perform with his son.

Kogan formed a trio with pianist Emil Gilels and cellist Mstislav Rostropovich.

Kogan later formed another trio with conductor Yevgeny Svetlanov (piano) and Fyodor Luzanov [ru] (cello).

Kogan recorded violin concerti by other Soviet composers, including the two by Tikhon Khrennikov.

In 2006, EMI France issued a 4-CD box set ("Les Introuvables de Leonid Kogan") containing his concerto recordings for that label, all digitally remastered the same year.