2016 AFSF recepient.
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 Bachelor of Music in Cello Performance from the Cleveland Institute of Music in 2019, having studied with Mark Kosower. He currently studies with Brinton Smith at Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music.
Kaler has many 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, the North International Music Competition (London, UK), the Muse International Music Competition, and most recently, the Shepherd School of Music concerto competition. His solo engagements for 2021-22 include a performance of Ernest Bloch’s Schelomo with the Shepherd School of Music Symphony Orchestra and a recital at Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music.
In recent years, Kaler appeared as a soloist with the Ars Viva Orchestra, Kankakee Valley 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), and the North Shore Chamber Music Festival (Northbrook, IL). He has appeared on WFMT’s “Introductions”, WCLV, as well as WCPN’s “Applause Performances”.