Ida Kavafian, Violinist

Internationally acclaimed as both violinist and violist, Ida Kavafian was Artistic Director of the acclaimed festival Music from Angel Fire in New Mexico for 35 years.  For over fifty years, she has been a frequent performer with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, and is a founder of such groups as Tashi, Opus One and Trio Valtorna, as well as the festival Bravo! Vail, which she ran for ten years.  During her tenure with the renowned Beaux Arts Trio, the group was Musical America’s Ensemble of the Year and received a Grammy Nomination.

Ms. Kavafian has toured and recorded with diverse greats such as Chick Corea, Wynton Marsalis and Mark O’Connor, and had a feature on CBS Sunday Morning.  She has premiered many new works, including a concerto written for her by Toru Takemitsu as well as Michael Daugherty’s “Fire and Blood,” which she also recorded with the Detroit Symphony. Recently she gave the World Premiere of a new concerto written for her by the acclaimed composer Richard Danielpour.  As violist, she has performed with the Guarneri, Orion, Harlem, Shanghai, Harlem and American String Quartets.

Ms. Kavafian holds the Nina von Maltzahn Chair in Violin Studies at the Curtis Institute, where she has taught for more than twenty-five years and was awarded the Lindback Award for Distinguished Teaching.  Born in Istanbul, Turkey of Armenian parentage, she began her studies with Ara Zerounian, continued with Mischa Mischakoff, then graduated with honors from the Juilliard School with Oscar Shumsky.  She was presented in her debut by Young Concert Artists with pianist Peter Serkin and received the coveted Avery Fisher Grant.  Married to violist Steven Tenenbom, Ms. Kavafian has found great success in another field: the breeding, training, hunting and showing of prize-winning Hungarian Vizsla dogs under the prefix “Opus One.”

Ms. Kavafian performs at CCCMF 2026 on October 15 and 18