 Kars' London debut was in 1967; in 1968 he was awarded first prize in the Olivier Messiaen piano competition.During this time the Kars family lived in a working-class area of Paris called quartier Alésia, in an apartment so cramped that the piano and a tiny bath installation (isolated by a curtain) had to be kept in the same room.In 1971 he partook in a well received tour of Southern Africa.