Bio
Grammy award-winning violist KIM KASHKASHIAN has been hailed as “an artist who combines a probing, restless intellect with enormous beauty of tone,” (San Francisco Chronicle). Internationally recognized as a unique voice on the viola, her work as performing and recording artist and pedagogue has been recognized worldwide, and she has tirelessly worked to broaden the range of technique and repertoire of the viola. Equally at home in both traditional and contemporary repertoire, the multi-Grammy nominee has developed creative relationships with György Kurtág, Krzysztof Penderecki, Alfred Schnittke, Giya Kancheli, and Arvo Pärt, and commissioned and premiered works by Peter Eötvös, Ken Ueno, Thomas Larcher, Lera Auerbach, and Tigran Mansurian.
As soloist Kashkashian’s orchestral appearances have included the world’s preeminent orchestras, including those of Berlin, London, Vienna, Milan, New York and Cleveland in collaboration with Eschenbach, Mehta, Welser-Moest, Kocsis, Dennis Russel Davies, Blomstedt, and Holliger. She has been heard in recital and chamber music on major stages internationally in Vienna, Rome, Paris, Berlin, Munich, Tokyo, Athens, London, New York, Boston, Chicago, San Francisco and Philadelphia, where she also appears with her trio Tre Voci, and in duo partnerships with pianist Robert Levin and percussionist Robyn Schulkowsky. She can be heard regularly at the Verbier, Salzburg, Lockenhaus, Marlboro, and Ravinia festivals. Ms. Kashkashian has forged creative collaborations with composers Kurtág, Penderecki, Schnittke, Kancheli, and Pärt and commissioned compositions from Eötvös, Ueno, Olivero, Larcher, Auerbach, Mansurian, and Hosokawa.
Her fruitful relationship, since 1985, with the esteemed ECM Records has yielded a prolific discography which has garnered great praise and international awards, including an Opus Klassik prize for her Bach suites, a Grammy for her solo recording of Ligeti and Kurtág, a Cannes Classical Award for concerti of Kurtág, Bartók, and Eötvös, and an Edison Prize for her recording with pianist Levin of the Brahms viola sonatas. She also received the George Peabody Medal and Switzerland’s Golden Bow Award for her contributions to music.
Ms. Kashkashian has been on the faculty of New England Conservatory since 2000, is a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and is founder and Artistic Director of Music for Food, a musician-led hunger relief initiative.
Grammy award-winning violist KIM KASHKASHIAN has been hailed by the San Francisco Chronicle as “an artist who combines a probing, restless intellect with enormous beauty of tone.” Internationally recognized as a unique voice on the viola, her legendary work as performing and recording artist and pedagogue is renowned worldwide, and she has tirelessly worked to broaden the range of technique and repertoire of the viola. Equally at home in both traditional and contemporary repertoire, the multi-Grammy nominee has commissioned, premiered, and collaborated with composers including György Kurtág, Krzysztof Penderecki, Alfred Schnittke, Giya Kancheli, Arvo Pärt, Peter Eötvös, Ken Ueno, Lera Auerbach, Hosokawa and Tigran Mansurian. Her orchestral engagements include orchestras of Berlin, London, Vienna, Milan, New York, and her recitals and chamber appearances have taken her to major stages globally, where she also appears with her Trio Tre Voci, and in duo partnerships with pianist Robert Levin and percussionist Robyn Schulkowsky. She has a prolific discography on the esteemed ECM records, with which she has worked since 1985. She has received an Opus Klassik prize, a Cannes Classical Award, George Peabody Medal and Switzerland’s Golden Bow Award for her contributions to music. She is on the faculty of the New England Conservatory and is founder and Artistic Director of Music for Food, a musician-led hunger relief initiative.
Press
Quotes About Kim Kashkashian
“She is one of the handful of performers I know who makes everything she plays sound like a communication from the center of her being. Clearly one of the great violists of the century.”
“Simply stupendous playing… We can ask no more from an artist.”
“Viola virtuosos are a rare breed, and all the more precious for their scarcity. Kim Kashkashian… is one of the rarest- an artist who combines a probing, restless musical intellect with enormous beauty of tone.”
“Kashkashian is more consistently in the moment than any other performer I have heard….She lets no note go unexamined or less than fully voiced…it’s difficult to imagine that any [other recordings of the Suites] have been performed with such authority, confidence, power and deep seriousness.”
“Although Kim Kashkashian is a world-famous violist, the first word that comes to my mind is not “viola,” but “lyricism” — that quality of music to be songlike, and to flow easily with emotion…she has an ability to make her instrument sing.”
“In the hands of the master violist, this famous stretch of Bach’s music become body music, rooted in breath and wood and muscle.”
“rich, mellow timbre and impressive artistry.”
“Kashkashian finds different tonal shades for every key and degree of harmonic tension…[she] brings across the music’s airy brilliance with uncompromised clarity.”
Articles About Kim Kashkashian
Photos
Media
Kim Kashkashian Plays Britten’s Lachrymae Op. 48a
Kim Kashkashian performs Benjamin Britten's Lachrymae Op. 48a with the New York Classical Players.
Kim Kashkashian Plays Sonata da Chiesa by Mansurian
Kim Kashkashian gives the U.S. premiere of Tigran Mansurian's Sonata da Chiesa.
Kashkashian Six Suites for Viola Solo (Teaser)
A teaser of Kim Kashkashian's Six Suites for Viola Solo recording on ECM.
Kashkashian Plays Dvorak Quintet Op. 81 with Bell, Contzen, Maisky, Ax
Kashkashian plays Dvorak Quintet Op. 81 with Joshua Bell, Mirijam Contzen, Mischa Maisky, & Emanuel Ax at the Verbier Festival.