Ilya Kaler, Violin

2010: First 3 Week Session
(weeks 2 and 3 only)*

Faculty, DePaul University.  Winner of the Gold Medals at three of the world's most prestigious competitions (the Tchaikovsky, Moscow, USSR, 1986; the Sibelius, Helsinki, Finland, 1985; and the Paganini, Genoa, Italy 1981) Ilya Kaler is frequently compared to the likes of Heifetz and Perlman. Kaler's recordings of the Paganini Caprices have been deemed by American Record Guide to be "in a class by themselves and combining 'the perfection, passion and phrase- sculpting of Michael Rabin with the energy, excitement and immediacy of Jascha Heifetz". His recordings of both Paganini Concertos and the Schumann Sonatas have met with equal superlative acclaim.

After graduating from the Central Music School for Especially Gifted Children in Moscow, where he studied with Zinaida Gilels, Ilya Kaler continued working under the guidance of Leonid Kogan and Viktor Tretyakov at the Moscow State Conservatory and later with Abram Shtern in Kiev and Los Angeles.

Recitals and solo engagements with orchestras took Ilya Kaler all over the world. His Appearances as a soloist with Orchestras include St. Petersburg Philharmonic, Zurich Chamber Orchestra, Montreal Symphony, Detroit Symphony, Baltimore Symphony, Seattle Symphony, New Japan Philharmonic and Osaka Century Orchestra among others. He collaborated with a number of outstanding conductors such as Valery Gergiev, Dmitry Kitaenko, Mariss Jansons and Jerzy Semkow.

Mr. Kaler served as a concertmaster of the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra as well as a guest concertmaster with Aspen Music Festival, the Philadelphia Orchestra, the San Francisco Symphony and the Baltimore Symphony Orchestras. Mr. Kaler has been a Professor of Violin at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, NY, Indiana University School of Music in Bloomington, IN, and is currently a Professor of Violin at DePaul University School of Music in Chicago, IL.

An active chamber musician, Mr. Kaler has performed at festivals and chamber music societies around the world with Yuri Bashmet, Emmanuel Ax, Janos Starker, Tsuyoshi Tsutsumi, Dmitry Sitkovetsky, Vadim Repin, Cecile Licad, Gerard Causse, Myron Bloom, Eli Eban, Atar Arad, Steven Doane, Alexander Peskanov, Boris Slutsky and others.

Mr. Kaler records exclusively for Naxos Records. The recordings released in the last ten years include works by Ysaye, Brahms, Schumann, Shostakovich, Glazunov, Dvorak, Paganini, and Tchaikovsky.

* In residence for weeks 2 and 3 only. Will give 3 weeks worth of lessons in 2 weeks of residency.