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Kim Kashkashian

Kim Kashkashian

Education and Training

BM, Peabody Conservatory of Music; MM, New School of Music Philadelphia. Viola with Walter Trampler and Karen Tuttle.

Awards and Recognition

Honorable Member of the Royal Academy of Music 2020

ASTA Artist Teacher Award 2016

Fellow, American Academy of Arts and Sciences, 2016

George Peabody Medal for Outstanding Contributions to Music in America '15'16

Grammy Award in the "Best Classical Instrumental Solo," 2012

Edison Prize, 1999

Cannes Classical Award, 2001

Kim Kashkashian

Division: College

Department: Strings

Instrument: Viola

Kim Kashkashian, internationally recognized as a unique voice on the viola, was born of Armenian parents in Michigan. She studied the viola with Karen Tuttle and legendary violist Walter Trampler at the Peabody Conservatory of Music in Baltimore. Since fall 2000 she has taught viola and chamber music at New England Conservatory.

Kashkashian has worked tirelessly to broaden the range of technique, advocacy, and repertoire for the viola. A staunch proponent of contemporary music, she has developed creative relationships with György Kurtág, Krzysztof Penderecki, Alfred Schnittke, Giya Kancheli, and Arvo Pärt, and commissioned works from Peter Eötvös, Ken Ueno, Thomas Larcher, Lera Auerbach, and Tigran Mansurian.

Marlboro and the Viennese school represented by her mentor, Felix Galimir, were major influences in developing her love of chamber music. Kim Kashkashian is a regular participant at the Verbier, Salzburg, Lockenhaus, Marlboro, and Ravinia festivals.

As a soloist, she has appeared with the great orchestras of Berlin, London, Vienna, Milan, New York, and Cleveland, and in recital at the Metropolitan Museum of New York, Kaufmann Hall, New England Conservatory’s Jordan Hall, as well as in Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Frankfurt, Berlin, Paris, Athens, and Tokyo.

Kashkashian’s musicianship has been well represented on recordings through her association with the prestigious ECM label in a fruitful collaboration that has been continuous since 1985.

Kim Kashkashian has taught in Bloomington, Indiana, and in Freiburg and Berlin, Germany, and now resides with her daughter in Boston.

Kim is a founding member of Music for Food, an initiative by musicians to fight hunger in their home communities.

Former faculty of University of Indiana and conservatories in Freiburg and Berlin, Germany.

Curriculum Vitae

BM, Peabody Conservatory of Music; MM, New School of Music Philadelphia. Viola with Walter Trampler and Karen Tuttle.

  • Honorable Member of the Royal Academy of Music 2020
  • ASTA Artist Teacher Award 2016
  • Fellow, American Academy of Arts and Sciences, 2016
  • George Peabody Medal for Outstanding Contributions to Music in America '15'16
  • Grammy Award in the "Best Classical Instrumental Solo," 2012
  • Edison Prize, 1999
  • Cannes Classical Award, 2001

Affiliated Departments and Programs

Strings