Ilya Kaler is a Soviet and American violinist, born on June 2, 1963, in Moscow. He is the only performer to have won first prizes at three of the largest international violin competitions: the Paganini Competition in 1981, the Sibelius Competition in 1985, and the Tchaikovsky Competition in 1986.
He was born into the family of Leonid Meerovich Kaler, a veteran of the Great Patriotic War who had been born in Kishinev, and Rozalia Semyonovna Kaler. He received his first music lessons from his father, a violinist in the Grand Symphony Orchestra of the USSR State Television and Radio, and a pupil of M. Ya. Pester. He later studied at the Central Music School with Zinaida Gilels and Yuri Yankelevich, and at the Moscow Conservatory with Leonid Kogan and Viktor Tretyakov, graduating with a gold medal. After that, he continued private study with Abram Stern in Kyiv and Los Angeles.
Kaler gave his first solo concert in 1975. His first major concert followed in 1983 with the Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra under D. Kitaenko. From 1996 to 2001 he served as concertmaster of the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, after which he became concertmaster of the Lake Forest Symphony orchestra. He has also served as a juror at several competitions around the world, including the International Jean Sibelius Violin Competition in Helsinki, Finland, the Henri Marteau International Violin Competition in Germany, the International Music Competition in Harbin, China, and the Tchaikovsky Competition.
Since 2007 he has performed actively as a member of The Tempest Trio, together with Amit Peled and Alon Goldstein. A professor at several higher musical institutions in the United States, he was a professor at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York, and also taught at the Indiana University School of Music in Bloomington, Indiana. Since 2018 he has taught together with his wife Olga at the Cleveland Institute of Music of DePaul University in Chicago, Illinois. In summer he teaches and gives master classes at festivals and institutions including Chautauqua, Bowdoin, the Montreal Chamber Music Festival, the Heifetz Music Institute, and the Keshet Eilon Music Center.
He also performs in a duo with his wife, the violinist and composer Olga Dubossarskaya-Kaler, daughter of the composer Boris Dubossarsky. Kaler has made a large number of CD recordings and signed an exclusive contract with Naxos Records. His solo album Ilya Kaler, Violin, released by Ongaku Records, was nominated for a NAIRD Indie Award in 1995 in the solo classical category. Ongaku also later released Olivier Messiaen: Quartet for the End of Time.
He is known to play a 1735 violin made by Giuseppe Guarneri. He currently lives in Wilmette, Illinois, in the United States with his wife Olga and their two sons, Daniel and Ariel.
His discography listed in the article includes recordings devoted to Prokofiev, Tchaikovsky, Shostakovich, Paganini, Vitali, Brahms, Marcello, Wieniawski, Ysaÿe, Schumann, Glazunov, Dvořák, Messiaen, Szymanowski, Bach, Karlowicz, and Sibelius. These releases appeared on labels including Melodiya, Naxos, and Ongaku between 1987 and 2012.
Connections
This figure has 1 connection in the Music Lineage catalog.