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All Music Guide:
Born in Detroit of Armenian descent, chamber musician and viola soloist Kim Kashkashian has been featured on over 30 albums, and her repertoire, which ranges from Bach to pieces by contemporary composers, constantly explores the versatility and emotional range of her instrument. She has done interpretations of many classical composers, including Britten, Penderecki, Hindemith, Shostakovich, Schumann, Brahms, and Bartók, among others, while recording for the DGG, Sony, and ECM labels. Kashkashian has formed an ongoing collaboration with pianist Robert Levin, percussionist Robyn Schulkowsky, and harpsichordist Robert Hill, and her versions of Brahms sonatas, done with Levin, won the 1999 Edison Prize, while an album of various concertos by Bartók, Eötvös, and Kurtág won the Cannes prize for chamber music in 2000.
Wikipedia:
Kim Kashkashian (born August 21, 1952 in Detroit, Michigan) is an Armenian-American violist.
Professional career
Kim Kashkashian studied the viola with Karen Tuttle. She also studied at the Interlochen Center for the Arts. She won the 2nd prize at the 1980 Lionel Tertis International Viola Competition and the 1980 ARD International Music Competition in Munich. She has been featured on over 30 albums and performs pieces from both classical and contemporary composers, working among others with Gidon Kremer and Yo Yo Ma, the Vienna Philharmonic and Nikolaus Harnoncourt. She also played the viola in the soundtrack of the film Ulysses' Gaze, together with Eleni Karaindrou. Her albums have won awards, notably the 1999 Edison Prize and the Cannes Prize for Chamber Music in 2000.
She commissioned new works for the viola, such as Ken Ueno's Two Hands for viola and percussion in 2009.
Kashkashian currently teaches at the New England Conservatory. Before she taught at Freiburg and in Berlin. Among her students are Julia Rebekka Adler, Sheila Browne, Lim Soon Lee and Diemut Poppen.
