Dr. Adam Kossler

First Name: 
Dr. Adam
Last Name: 
Kossler
Main Title: 
Professor of Guitar
Office Location: 
Room 410, Broyhill Music Center
Phone Number: 
828-262-6463

Virtuoso technique, beautiful sound and a sincere musicality” are terms music critics are using to describe American guitarist Adam Kossler.   In addition to performing regularly as a solo artist, Adam joins his father William and brother John in both duo and trio concerts.

     Adam Kossler is a top prizewinner in a number of national and international guitar competitions including the Boston Guitarfest, Columbus Guitar Symposium, East Carolina Guitar Competition, MANC Guitar Competition, Texas International Guitar Competition, Music Teacher National Association Competition, and the Appalachian Guitarfest Competition.  Kossler’s international performance career has taken him throughout the US, Canada and Central America.  He has been a featured artist with numerous concert series including the John E. Marlow Guitar Series (Bethesda, MD), Isle Newell Concert Series (Appalachicola, FL), and the Seven Hills Guitar Series (Tallahassee, FL) among many others. In 2015, his Marlow Guitar Series performance was aired in it’s entirety on Classical WETA’s weekly program, “Front Row Washington”.  Recently he performed at Carnegie Hall, premiering new works by Chilean composer, Javier Farias. 

     In addition to his performance career, Kossler is also in demand as a teacher and clinician.  Recent engagements include The Denver Guitar Summit (Denver, CO), Festival Internacional Suzuki (Guatemala City, Guatemala), University of Alaska Guitar Festival (Anchorage, AK) Rantucci Guitar Festival (Buffalo, NY), and in 2015 Kossler was the featured Artist in Residence for Utah Classical Guitar (Salt Lake City, UT).

      In 2014, Kossler released his first solo recording,  Guitar Recital.  The album was received with enthusiasm by critics and audiences and was featured Tom Cole’s show, “The G String” on WPFW 89.3 FM in Washington D.C. In 2015 Kossler released his second solo record.  Ekloge, an album of 20thcentury music, includes works by Joaquin Rodrigo, Manuel Maria Ponce and Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco, as well as his own new transcriptions of music by Jean Sibelius.

     Adam Kossler began his musical studies with his father William Kossler.  He went on to earn his BM degree at East Carolina University with Dr. Elliot Frank, his MM degree at Appalachian State University as a teaching assistant to Dr. Douglas James, and completed a DMA in Guitar Performance at Florida State University where he served as a teaching assistant to Bruce Holzman.  Dr. Kossler currently directs the guitar program at Appalachian State University in Boone, NC.

Ensembles/Responsibilities:

  • Guitar Ensemble
  •  Applied Guitar