Kim Kashkashian
Kim Kashkashian is an American violist, born in Detroit in 1952 to an Armenian-American family. She studied with Walter Trampler and Karen Tuttle at the Peabody Conservatory, taught in Bloomington, Freiburg and Berlin, and has been on the viola and chamber music faculty of the New England Conservatory in Boston since 2000. Her ECM catalogue runs from Bach and Brahms to Berio, Kurtág and Tigran Mansurian. Kashkashian won the 2013 Grammy for Best Classical Instrumental Solo with Kurtág / Ligeti: Music for Viola.
Sonatas For Viola / Piano And Viola Alone
*2025 stock* Pianist-composer Vijay Iyer follows his 2021 ECM disc Uneasy — the first to showcase his trio featuring bassist Linda May Han Oh and drummer Tyshawn Sorey — with Compassion, another album in league with these two gifted partners. The New York Times captured the special qualities of this group, pointing to the trio’s flair for playing “with a lithe range of motion and resplendent clarity… while stoking a kind of writhing internal tension. Crucial to that balance is their ability to c…
Six Suites for Viola Solo, BWV 1007-1012
Kim Kashkashian plays Bach’s six cello suites BWV 1007-1012 on viola, the Sixth on a five-string viola by Francesco Bissolotti. Recorded November 2016 and February 2017 at the American Academy of Arts and Letters, New York.
Con Anima
Chamber music by Tigran Mansurian (1993-2015) for his 80th birthday, led by violist Kim Kashkashian and violinist Movses Pogossian with Varty Manouelian, Karen Ouzounian and others; recorded January-April 2019 at UCLA's Ostin Music Center, Los Angeles.
György Kurtág: Six moments musicaux & Officium breve / Antonín Dvořák: String Quintet op. 97
The Parker Quartet plays György Kurtág's Six moments musicaux and Officium breve, and with violist Kim Kashkashian Dvořák's String Quintet op. 97. Recorded November 2018 at Radiostudio DRS, Zürich, produced by Manfred Eicher.
Erik Satie, John Cage, Morton Feldman, Kim Kashkashian, Sarah Rothenberg, Steven Schick, Houston Chamber Choir, Robert Simpson
Rothko ChapelMorton Feldman's Rothko Chapel with music by Satie and Cage, played by Kim Kashkashian (viola), Sarah Rothenberg (piano, celesta), Steven Schick (percussion) and the Houston Chamber Choir under Robert Simpson, recorded in Houston in May 2012 and February 2013.
Arcanum - Dmitri Shostakovich, Lera Auerbach
Violist Kim Kashkashian and pianist Lera Auerbach play Auerbach's viola and piano transcription of Shostakovich's 24 Preludes op. 34 and her sonata Arcanum (2013), recorded in October 2013 at Radio Studio DRS, Zürich.
Tre Voci
First album by the trio Tre Voci (Kim Kashkashian, viola; Marina Piccinini, flute; Sivan Magen, harp): Takemitsu, Debussy's Sonata for flute, viola and harp and Gubaidulina, recorded in April 2013 in Lugano.
Kurtág / Ligeti: Music for Viola
Kim Kashkashian plays György Kurtág's Signs, Games and Messages for solo viola (nineteen pieces) and György Ligeti's Sonata for viola solo (1991-94), recorded in May 2011 at Propstei St. Gerold and produced by Manfred Eicher.
David
Eleni Karaindrou's stage cantata on an anonymous 18th century verse drama from Chios, with violist Kim Kashkashian, mezzo Irini Karagianni, baritone Tassis Christoyannopoulos, ERT Choir, Camerata Orchestra under Alexandros Myrat, recorded live at the Athens Megaron, November 2010.
Concert in Athens
Live recording of Eleni Karaindrou's theatre and film music with guests Kim Kashkashian (viola) and Jan Garbarek (tenor saxophone), oboist Vangelis Christopoulos and the Camerata Orchestra under Alexandros Myrat, Megaron, Athens, 19 November 2010.
Neharót - Betty Olivero / Tigran Mansurian / Eitan Steinberg
Kim Kashkashian plays works by Betty Olivero, Tigran Mansurian and Eitan Steinberg, with the Münchener Kammerorchester, Boston Modern Orchestra Project, Kuss Quartett, Robyn Schulkowsky and Mansurian, recorded 2006-2008 in Munich, Poznań and Boston.
Hayren - Music of Komitas and Tigran Mansurian
Kim Kashkashian (viola), Robyn Schulkowsky (percussion) and Tigran Mansurian (piano, voice) play two Mansurian works of 1998 and his arrangements of Komitas songs. Recorded May 2000 at Teldec Studio, Berlin.
Béla Bartók / Peter Eötvös / György Kurtág
Kim Kashkashian plays Bartók's Viola Concerto, Peter Eötvös's Replica and György Kurtág's Movement for Viola and Orchestra with the Netherlands Radio Chamber Orchestra under Eötvös, recorded in 1999 at Muziekcentrum Vredenburg, Utrecht.
Sonaten für Viola und Klavier
Brahms's two Sonatas op. 120 in the composer's viola version, played by Kim Kashkashian (viola) and Robert Levin (piano), recorded in November 1996 at the Liederhalle, Stuttgart, and produced by Manfred Eicher.
Ulysses' Gaze - Film by Theo Angelopoulos
Eleni Karaindrou's music for Theo Angelopoulos's 1995 film Ulysses' Gaze, with Kim Kashkashian (viola), soloists and a string orchestra conducted by Lefteris Chalkiadakis, recorded in December 1994 at Sound Studio, Athens, produced by Manfred Eicher.
György Kurtág / Robert Schumann: Hommage à R. Sch.
Chamber music by György Kurtág and Robert Schumann for viola, clarinet and piano, played by Kim Kashkashian, Eduard Brunner and Robert Levin, recorded in 1992 and 1994 in the Kammermusiksaal of the Beethoven-Haus, Bonn.
Giya Kancheli: Vom Winde beweint / Alfred Schnittke: Konzert für Viola und Orchester
Giya Kancheli's Vom Winde beweint and Alfred Schnittke's Viola Concerto, with Kim Kashkashian and conductor Dennis Russell Davies, Orchester der Beethovenhalle Bonn (Nov 1991) and Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Saarbrücken (May 1986).
Dimitri Shostakovich, Paul Chihara, Linda Bouchard, Kim Kashkashian, Robert Levin, Robin Schulkowsky
Dmitri Shostakovich / Paul Chihara / Linda BouchardShostakovich's Viola Sonata Op. 147 with Linda Bouchard's Pourtinade and Paul Chihara's Redwood, played by Kim Kashkashian (viola), Robert Levin (piano) and Robyn Schulkowsky (percussion), recorded in June and October 1990.