Yair Kless ( he, יאיר קלס; born November 12, 1940) is an Israeli

violin The violin, sometimes known as a ''fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone (string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in the family in regular ...

ist and

professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an Academy, academic rank at university, universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a "person who pr ...

Background

Kless began performing at an early age, attaining a world-wide reputation in his activities like soloist and

chamber music Chamber music is a form of classical music that is composed for a small group of instruments—traditionally a group that could fit in a palace chamber or a large room. Most broadly, it includes any art music that is performed by a small numb ...

ian. His repertoire includes works from

baroque The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including t ...

period to compositions specially created for him. He studied with Israel Amidan and

André Gertler André Gertler (26 July 1907 – 23 July 1998) was a Hungarian classical violinist and teacher. Professor at the Royal Conservatory of Brussels (1940–1977), Professor at the Cologne Academy of Music (1954–1957), Professor at the College of Musi ...

at the Academy of Music in

Tel-Aviv Tel Aviv-Yafo ( he, תֵּל־אָבִיב-יָפוֹ, translit=Tēl-ʾĀvīv-Yāfō ; ar, تَلّ أَبِيب – يَافَا, translit=Tall ʾAbīb-Yāfā, links=no), often referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the G ...

, and later at the Conservatory and the Musical Chapel Queen Elizabeth in

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

. Kless belonged to the Baroque Musicians Israeli Group, and he was the first violin in the Sol-La-Re

string quartet The term string quartet can refer to either a type of musical composition or a group of four people who play them. Many composers from the mid-18th century onwards wrote string quartets. The associated musical ensemble consists of two violinists ...

, the Tel Aviv

piano quartet A piano quartet is a chamber music composition for piano and three other instruments, or a musical ensemble comprising such instruments. Those other instruments are usually a string trio consisting of a violin, viola and cello. Piano quartets for ...

and the American New Art Trio. He is currently a member of the Modus Trio, a

string trio A string trio is a group of three string instruments or a piece written for such a group. From at least the 19th century on, the term "string trio" with otherwise unspecified instrumentation normally refers to the combination violin, viola and cell ...

in Israel. For many years, he has been in charge of the String Department at the

Rubin Academy of Music The Buchmann-Mehta School of Music (BMSM) is an institute of higher education in Tel Aviv, Israel. The school is a part of the Faculty of the Arts of Tel Aviv University and is operated in collaboration with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra (IPO). ...

, which he directed between 1989 and 1993. His pupils include

Vadim Gluzman Vadim Gluzman (Вадим Михайлович Глузман, born 1973) is a Ukrainian-born Israeli classical violinist. Born in the former Soviet Union, Vadim Gluzman spent most of his childhood in Riga, Latvia. His father is a conductor and cl ...

. Kless has served as a jury member of several international competitions. He regularly takes part in summer courses and prestigious

music festivals A music festival is a community event with performances of singing and instrument playing that is often presented with a theme such as musical genre (e.g., rock, blues, folk, jazz, classical music), nationality, locality of musicians, or ho ...

, such as the Salzburg Festival and Bravo! Institute. He is also a guest professor in master classes in the United States, the

former Soviet Union The post-Soviet states, also known as the former Soviet Union (FSU), the former Soviet Republics and in Russia as the near abroad (russian: links=no, ближнее зарубежье, blizhneye zarubezhye), are the 15 sovereign states that wer ...

, Germany, Ireland, Finland, France, Australia, England, Italy, Poland and the Netherlands. Since 1995, Mr. Kless has divided his time between Europe - as professor at the

Graz University The University of Graz (german: link=no, Karl-Franzens-Universität Graz, ), located in Graz, Austria, is the largest and oldest university in Styria, as well as the second-largest and second-oldest university in Austria. History The unive ...

(Austria) - and Israel.

References

Biography from the Keshet Eilon music centre
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kless, Yair Israeli music educators Israeli violinists Male violinists Living people 20th-century Israeli educators 20th-century Israeli male musicians 21st-century Israeli educators 21st-century Israeli male musicians 21st-century violinists Year of birth missing (living people)