Daniel Kaler
cello
Praised by critics and listeners alike for his “warm and luminous tone” (Chicago Music Report), Daniel Kaler is recognized by many as a rising star of his generation.
Following his initial studies under Gilda Barston of the Music Institute of Chicago, Kaler continued his studies under Professor Hans Jørgen Jensen of the Northwestern University Bienen School of Music and Professor Stephen Balderston of the DePaul University School of Music. Kaler received his B.M. in cello performance from the Cleveland Institute of Music in 2019, having studied with Mark Kosower. He will begin studies at Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music under the guidance of Brinton Smith in the fall of 2019.
Kaler has many prestigious awards to his credit, including being a prizewinner of the Sigma Alpha Iota Concerto Competition at the Chautauqua Festival (Chautauqua, NY); the Cleveland Institute of Music Concerto Competition, where he was also awarded the 2018 Payne Fund Prize; and the North International Music Competition (London, UK). His solo engagements with orchestras for the 2019/20 season include performances of the Brahms Double and J.C. Bach concertos.
In recent years, Kaler appeared as a soloist with the Ars Viva Orchestra, Kankakee Valley Symphony Orchestra, Midwest Young Artists Symphony Orchestra, West Virginia Symphony Orchestra, Bogotá Philharmonic Orchestra, Chautauqua Music School Festival Orchestra, Cleveland Institute of Music Orchestra, and the Asheville Symphony Orchestra.
Kaler has attended and given performances at solo, chamber, and orchestral music programs such as the Chautauqua Music Festival (Chautauqua, NY), Sarasota Music Festival (Sarasota, FL), Heifetz International Music Institute (Staunton, VA), Bowdoin International Music Festival (Brunswick, ME), North Shore Chamber Music Festival (Northbrook, IL), Music in the Loft, Young Steinway Concert Series, Chicago Cultural Center, Harris Theatre, and Millennium Park. He has appeared on WFMT’s “Introductions,” WCLV, as well as WCPN’s “Applause Performances.”
