Ed Gazouleas

Violist Ed Gazouleas has emerged as one of the finest teachers of his generation and his students now populate the viola sections of many orchestras, including the Boston, St. Louis, and Indianapolis symphony orchestras; and many others in the United States, Europe, Asia, and South America.

Mr. Gazouleas was a member of the Boston Symphony Orchestra for 24 years, where he held the Lois and Harlan Anderson Viola Chair and led the viola section on many occasions, notably with conductors such as Colin Davis, Kurt Masur, and André Previn. While in Boston, he was active in orchestra governance, chairing the orchestra’s artistic advisory committee and serving on the search committee that selected Andris Nelsons to be the orchestra’s music director. He has had a long association with the Tanglewood Music Center in leadership capacities.

As a chamber music performer, Mr. Gazouleas has appeared with members of the Fine Arts, Pacifica, Muir, Lydian, and Johannes string quartets, among others. A prize-winner at the Eighth International String Quartet Competition in Evian, France, he has also collaborated with such artists as Christian Tetzlaff, Stephanie Blythe, Roberto Díaz, the Boston Symphony Chamber Players, and the principal string players of the Cleveland Orchestra.

Mr. Gazouleas works to expand and promote new works for the viola, and has collaborated with such composers as Sir Michael Tippett, John Harbison, and Osvaldo Golijov. In 2019 he performed the North American premiere of Letters from Warsaw by English composer Joseph Phibbs.

Mr. Gazouleas has also served on the faculties of Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music as a tenured professor, Boston University College of Fine Arts, Boston Conservatory, Wellesley College, and New England Conservatory. He is also in demand as an orchestral clinician around the country.

Mr. Gazouleas is a 1984 graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music where he studied viola with Michael Tree and Karen Tuttle. He joined the Curtis faculty in 2017 and was named the Gie and Lisa Liem Artistic Director in 2021 and Provost in 2022.