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 graduated from the Cleveland Institute of Music in 2019 with a B.M in Cello Performance, having studied with Mark Kosower, Principal Cellist of The Cleveland Orchestra.

Kaler has many prestigious 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, and the North International Music Competition (London, UK). His solo engagements with orchestras for 2018-19 include performances of the Shostakovich, Walton and Saint-Saëns Concertos with the Chautauqua Music School Festival Orchestra, the Cleveland Institute of Music Orchestra and the Asheville Symphony Orchestra under conductors Timothy Muffitt, Thomas Wilkins and Ward Stare, respectively.

In recent years, Kaler appeared as a soloist with the Ars Viva Orchestra under the direction of Alan Heatherington, the Kankakee Valley Symphony Orchestra and Midwest Young Artists Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Allan Dennis, the West Virginia Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Grant Cooper, the University of Illinois Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Daniel Black, the Oistrakh Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Mina Zikri and with the Music Institute of Chicago Academy Orchestra in Ravinia, IL under the direction of James Setapen.

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), North Shore Chamber Music Festival (Northbrook, IL), Music In The Loft, Young Steinway Concert Series, Chicago Cultural Center, Harris Theatre and Millennium Park. He has appeared on WFMT’s “Introductions”, WCLV, as well as WCPN’s “Applause Performances”.

Kaler is a subject in “Hear Us”, an up and coming TV documentary premiering in late 2018 and 2019.