Gilad Karni

Gilad Karni is an Israeli violist who has played in the New York Philharmonic and is currently principal viola in the Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich as well as a soloist and player in chamber ensembles. A founder member of the Huberman Quartet, with which he made his debut at Carnegie Hall, he has since appeared there with the Guarneri Quartet.

Early life Born in Israel, Gilad Karni was the attendee of the Thelma Yellin High School of the Arts in Givatayim. From 1985 to 1991 he attended Manhattan School of Music where he was under guidance from Paul Neubauer, Chaim Taub and Gad Lewertoff and was a scholarship recipient from the America-Israel Cultural Foundation.

Career Principal violist In 1991, Karni, at the invitation from maestro Claudio Abbado became a guest principal violinist with the Orchestra of a United Europe.

Chamber musician As an avid chamber musician, Mr. Karni has been a member of several chamber music ensembles, including the Huberman Quartet, of which he was a founding member. In 2000 the quartet had its Carnegie Hall debut. and appeared on various music festivals throughout the country, including Aspen, Bellingham and Newport and participated with the Hartford, Santa Barbara, Santa Fe and La Jolla Chamber Music Orchestras.

In May 2009 Gilad Karni had a solo appearance at the Sergei Prokofiev's Romeo and Juliet with the Berliner Symphoniker at the renowned Berlin Philharmonic and during the same year performed Viola Concerto by Béla Bartók in Germany, Switzerland and Poland. He also known for along had solo recitals and chamber concerts in London's Wigmore Hall and Paris's Louvre and played Mozart's Sinfonia Concertante with Israel Sinfonietta, Wuppertal Symphony and the Berlin Symphony Orchestra. Mr. Karni was also engaged in solo performances debuts with the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra and the Deutsches Nationaltheater and Staatskapelle Weimar at which he performed plays by Felix Mendelssohn, and was a founder of the Mendelssohn Players.

In May 2017 Gilad Karni performed at the Cornell University.

Collaborations Artists that he has collaborated with include musicians such as Isaac Stern, Yefim Bronfman, Mischa Maisky, Julian Rachlin, Itamar Golan, Tabea Zimmermann, Leonidas Kavakos, Nikolaj Znaider and Gerard Causse and many more. Other awards include the Third Prize in the 1992 Bryan International String Competition (USA), First Prize in the Israeli Broadcasting Authority Competition for Best Performance of 1991, the Peter Schidlof Prize for the Most Beautiful Tone in the 1991 Lionel Tertis International Viola Competition (England), and the Best Interpretation Prize for the commissioned concerto (by C. He. Joubert) in the 1989 Third Maurice Vieux International Viola Competition in France.