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Prestigious violinist Ilya Kaler accepts position with IU School of Music
June 20, 2001
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- The Indiana University School of Music has announced the appointment of world-renowned violinist Ilya Kaler to the string faculty.
Kaler comes to Bloomington from the Eastman School of Music, where he has been the leading professor of violin since 1997. He has concurrently been the concertmaster of the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra. Kaler has been appointed as full professor of violin and will be the first recipient of the Linda and Jack Gill Chair in Violin established last year by the Gill Foundation of Texas.
"Ilya Kaler brings a wealth of experience as a concertmaster, soloist and pedagogue to his new position at the School of Music," said IU Dean Gwyn Richards. "His decision to join the heralded string faculty at the Indiana University School of Music speaks for the reputation of its faculty and furthers the mission of string education in the school. We are grateful to Linda and Jack Gill for making possible the creation of this important position and for the immediate impact it will have on the education of our students."
At the age of 37, Kaler already has numerous accomplishments to his credit. He is the only violinist ever to win the Gold Medal at each of the world's most prestigious international competitions: the Paganini (1981), the Sibelius (1985) and the Tchaikovsky (1986). He also has toured extensively throughout the world performing with the Leningrad, Moscow and Dresden philharmonic orchestras; the Danish and Berlin radio orchestras; the Moscow and Zurich chamber orchestras; and the Detroit, Baltimore, Montreal and Seattle symphony orchestras, among many others. He will perform this year at the Bowdoin Summer Music Festival.
Born to a musical family in Moscow, Kaler has played the violin since the age of 6. At the Central Special School of Music, he studied under Zinaida Gilels. He continued his studies with Victor Tretyakov and Leonid Kogan at the Moscow State Conservatory, where he earned both master's and doctoral degrees and graduated with the Gold Medal Award.
(Maria Talbert, 812-856-5719, mtalbert@indiana.edu or Laura Baich, 812-855-9846, lbaich@indiana.edu)