Brilliant performer, remarkable pedagogue and charismatic conductor, Habib Kayaleh is considered to be one of the most eminent pedagogues of his time. His conception of the violin technique and of its application, and his views on artistic interpretation are highly considered and adopted by important violin schools.

His abilities have gained him international recognition and acclaim from various artistic and political figures, to include Lord Yehudi Menuhin, concert violinists Nathan Milstein, Viktor Pikaïsen, Alberto Lysy and Igor Oïstrakh, Conductor and Honorary President of the World Federation of International Competitions Pierre Colombo, eminent pedagogues Shizuko Ischii, Irina Bochkova, Misako Ito, Khalida Akhtiamova, Julliard’s Dorothy Delay, Director General of the United Nations Geneva Office Sergei Ordzhonikidze and Pierre Aubert, ex-President of the Swiss Confederation, to name but a few.

Professor Kayaleh’s fame has also brought invitations to direct masterclasses in the performance classes of well known world violin institutes, and the acceptance of assignments to shape and mold the musical talents of young virtuosi. Accordingly, he has been the honoured guest of Moscow’s Tchaïkovsky State Conservatory and Academy, Hungary’s Franz Liszt Academy, Georgia’s Conservatory and Music School, Nagoya’s College of Music and Venezuela’s Latino-American Violin Academy, and his teaching in North America was highly ovationed.

Habib Kayaleh is the founder of the Kayaleh Violin Academy, an international violin center which offers stage performance courses for existing and aspiring concert violonists. Ranking amongst the few leading violin schools in the world, the Academy accepts the potential of approximately 16 to 20 students per year. Located in Crans, near Geneva, Switzerland, it recruits its students from all corners of the world. Established in 1989, the Academy produces a number of musicians who later dedicate their life to a concert career, namely as soloists. The Academy also shapes young artists for chamber music, and orientates some of its students towards the orchestral career.

Aknowledged by the Swiss Ministry of Education as an Official Institution of Public Utility, the Academy acts as home to the Kayaleh Chamber Orchestra, a multinational ensemble constituted by the virtuoso musicians enrolled in the Academy’s Stage Performance Classes.

Professor Kayaleh has utilized his determination to build other facilities for the advancement of young musicians. The most prestigious, «The Kayaleh Fondation», is a nonprofit organization that targets the promotion of gifted young artists, and supports the Academy in its functioning and evolution. The other, the Ecole Suprérieure de Musique, is an additional music school created in 1973 which accepts up to 200 students per year, and offers training in major instrumental fields.

Habib Kayaleh was awarded the Paul Harris Fellowship by the International Rotary Foundation for his artistic and human actions, and was selected as an honoured member of the Who’s Who Historical Society, thus testifying to his professional, academic and civic achievements.

I am happy to learn of the existence of the Foundation Habib Kayaleh, a musician for whom I have the greatest admiration and whom I have known over a long period of years. I trust that this will be of value in the understanding and the enjoyment of both violinists and those whom they enchant with their music.