Renowned Grammy-award winning cellist, Janos Starker, died at 88 after becoming ill months ago.

According to the Associated Press, Starker took home the award for best instrumental solo performance at the 1997 Grammy Awards.

The recording was also a tenured professor at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music. Starker began his teaching career with the university in 1958.

Los Angeles music critic, Mark Swed, spoke on the legacy of Starker.

"Although less fiery and never a superstar, Janos Starker was, in many ways, the Jascha Heifetz of the cello," Swed said. "His technique was impeccable and he produced an invariably refined sound. And yet he had depth of tone, an ability to give every note grave substance, which made him one of the rare musicians to find a way for beauty, grace and intensity to coexist, as if we lived in a world where they were all the same thing."

Starker began his career at the ripe age of 14 and became the principal cellist of the Budapest Opera by 15.

The world-class cellist became a member of the Dallas Symphony, Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, and the Chicago Symphony, as stated by ABC News. Starker spent five seasons as the principal cello player for the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.

In 1993, Chicago Tribune music critic John von Rhein expressed his admiration of Starker's brilliance, writing all he "has to do is touch bow to strings, and out pours an intensity of sound that immediately takes hold of one's senses.

"And the spell is cast entirely through the music, for Starker in performance maintains a grave facial expression and little eye contact with his audience," von Rhein said. "It's as if he were telling us, 'Listen to what the music is saying; don't watch me.' We listen, we listen."

Starker is survived by his wife, Rae, and two daughters, Gwen Starker Preucil and Gabriella Starker-Saxe.