Kashkashian, Kim

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Kashkashian, Kim

Kashkashian, Kim , lyrical American violist of Armenian descent; b. Detroit, Aug. 31, 1952. She studied with Trampler (1969–70) and Karen Tuttle (1970–75) at the Peabody Cons, of Music in Baltimore. After winning several competitions, she was a soloist with major American and European orchs. She taught at the New School of Music in Philadelphia (1981–86), the Mannes Coll. of Music in N.Y. (1983–86), the Ind. Univ. School of Music in Bloomington (1985–87), and the Freiburg im Breisgau Hochschule für Musik (from 1989). She has done much to promote contemporary music, commissioning many works for viola. Her recordings of works by the Greek composer Eleni Karaindrou, The Suspended Step of the Stork (1991) and Ulysses’ Gaze (1995), are extraordinarily beautiful.

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire