Atar Arad was born in Tel Aviv, Israel where he had his early musical education and violin studies. In 1971, he decided to devote himself to the viola, and just one year later won the City of London Prize at the Carl Flesch Competition and then the International Viola Competition in Geneva. Numerous concerts and recordings followed. In 1980 Arad moved from London to the U.S. to become a member of the great Cleveland Quartet, with which he toured the world. A frequent guest artist with today’s leading chamber ensembles, he is currently on the faculty of the Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University. He is a composer of works for viola and for string quartet and has also published essays on the Bartók and Walton viola concertos and the Atar Arad Collection.