Society of Peabody Alumni
Citation for the Peabody Distinguished Alumni Award
Presented to
Kim Kashkashian
September 9, 2007
Kim Kashkashian, you attended Peabody to study with Karen Tuttle and eventually became her assistant. You were already a star as a student and have since established yourself as one of the most accomplished artists of your generation.
You have been hailed by the San Francisco Chronicle as “an artist who combines a probing, restless musical intellect with enormous beauty of tone.” The New York Times has praised your “rich, mellow timbre and impressive artistry.”
You are that rare phenomenon, a star solo violist. You have appeared as soloist with the major orchestras in New York, Berlin, Vienna, London, Milan, Munich and Tokyo. You have been featured as the cover story of Strings magazine and on Saint Paul Sunday with Bill McGlaughlin.
Your extensive discography on ECM includes the Brahms Sonatas with Robert Levin, which won the 1999 Edison prize; and concertos of Bartók, Eötvös, and Kurtág, which won the 2000 Cannes Classical Award for a premiere recording by Soloist with Orchestra.
In the spirit of many of Johns Hopkins’ most distinguished alumni, you are in a constantquest for new directions and forms. You have developed working relationships with such composers as Gubaidulina, Penderecki, Kancheli, Kurtág, Mansuriän, Pärt, and Eötvös. Current ongoing chamber music partnerships include duos with pianist Robert Levin, percussionist Robyn Schulkowsky, and harpsichordist Robert Hill. You have performed with the Tokyo, Guarneri, and Galimir Quartets and toured with a unique quartet, which included violinists, Gidon Kremer and Daniel Phillips, and cellist Yo-Yo- Ma.
Your lifelong dedication to teaching has taken you to faculty positions at New York’s Mannes School (now Mannes College) of Music; Indiana University at Bloomington; the Freiburg Hochschule für Musik, and the Hans Eisler Hochschule für Musik in Germany; and here, at the New England Conservatory.
Kim Kashkashian, you have exemplified the Johns Hopkins tradition of excellence and brought credit to Peabody Conservatory and the University throughout your career. It is for all this that The Johns Hopkins University Alumni Association confers upon you the honor of the Distinguished Alumna Award.