Gandelsman, who joined the faculty at MSU’s College of Music this fall, grew up surrounded by music and said he never could imagine himself in another career.

“Sometimes people want to be a soccer player or be a magician, but I always want to be a musician,” he said.

The internationally renowned violist began his professional career as a 22-year-old college student in Moscow and went on to travel across the world playing for more than 40 years.

Suren Bagratuni, a cello professor in the College of Music, first met Gandelsman at a music festival in France about four years ago and said he hoped the well-traveled violist would one day become one of his colleagues.

When a senior string faculty position opened up in the College of Music for this academic year, Bagratuni remembered the “wonderful musician” he met years before and invited him to apply for the position.

“When I heard his playing, I just instantly saw how wonderful a musician he is and how much MSU students would benefit from his teaching and MSU benefit from his playing,” Bagratuni said.

Gandelsman spent the last seven years as a member of the Fine Arts Quartet artists-in-residence at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

“He told me about this school and everything was perfect what he told me, so why not do it?” Gandelsman said.

A hiring committee made up of five faculty members and two students unanimously selected Gandelsman to fill the vacancy, said James Forger, the dean of the College of Music.

“We were fortunate he was in the pool of candidates,” Forger said.

“He brings to Michigan State the credentials of being one of the outstanding violists really of his generation.”

Gandelsman’s extensive experience playing viola abroad will help bring more viola students to MSU, Forger said.

“Music is much like athletics,” Forger said. “You need to recruit students specializing on various instruments and have the right number of each so you have the right balance of students in orchestra and chamber music. He is a key element (of recruiting).”