Guitarist and pianist Ariel Kasler holds a Master of Music in Jazz Performance from Bowling Green State University, a Bachelor of Music from Berklee College of Music, and an Alexander Technique Teaching Certificate from the Toronto School of the Alexander Technique.
Kasler is a versatile performer and educator. His career has included activities ranging from releasing an album, Above the Sound (2015), which includes original jazz compositions and arrangements of jazz standards, to performing and commissioning contemporary music for electric guitar and saxophone with his wife, saxophonist Bobbi Thompson.
His proficiency as an improviser and sight-reader on both guitar and piano have enabled him to perform at venues and events as diverse as the Glenn Gould Studio in Toronto, the Detroit Jazz Festival, the Grand Theatre in London, ON, the Clore Center for Music and Dance in Israel, New Music from Bowling Green, the NASA regional conference in Urbana-Champaign, the Victorian College of Arts in Australia, and Rutman’s Violins in Boston. In addition to performing as a solo guitarist and pianist, he has performed with the BGSU Jazz Faculty ensemble, the Peter Hysen Octet, the London Jazz Orchestra, Hollywood: Tribute to Michael Buble, Hughes & Mac and the Barry Usher Ensemble, and has directed cruise ship show-bands, accompanying artists such as Ian Finkel, Nathan Foley and Jim Curry.
Ariel Kasler has been teaching guitar and piano in various institutions in Israel, the United States and Canada since 2001.
Joining the faculty at Bowling Green State University in 2015, Ariel has been teaching Applied Jazz Guitar, Applied Guitar, Applied Jazz Piano, Jazz Lab II, Jazz Pedagogy, Guitar Pedagogy, Chamber Jazz Ensemble, Jazz Guitar Ensemble, and Classical Guitar Ensemble.
