[6] He received his master's degree in orchestra conducting in 1980 from the Peabody Conservatory of Music, Johns Hopkins University.
[8] Kiesler was recipient of a conducting fellowship at the Aspen Music School[8] and his teachers and mentors have included Fiora Contino, Julius Herford, John Nelson,[8] Erich Leinsdorf, James Wimer, and Carlo Maria Giulini.
"[12] Kiesler is the conductor of many acclaimed recordings on the Naxos, Dorian, Equilibrium and Pierian labels; with the BBC Singers in London, Third Angle New Music Ensemble, and both the University of Michigan Symphony Orchestra and Opera Theatre.
[12] Kiesler's advocacy for new music and living composers has included conducting more than 15 world and American premieres[3] by composers James Aikman, Leslie Bassett, Paul Brantley, Evan Chambers, Sven Daigger, Gabriella Lena Frank, Aharon Harlap, James P. Johnson, Ben Johnston, Vítězslava Kaprálová,[16] Kristin Kuster, Stephen Rush, Gunther Schuller and Steven Stucky.
[18] Kiesler conducted the world premiere of The Old Burying Ground a song cycle for soprano, tenor, folksinger and orchestra by Evan Chambers in 2007, which was subsequently recorded in 2008.
[19] Since 1995, Kiesler has been professor of conducting and director of orchestras at the University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre & Dance.
[12] Kiesler directed the orchestras while serving as visiting artist and advisor in orchestral studies at the Manhattan School of Music from 2006 to 2010.
[12] Kiesler has led many conducting master classes in the United States and internationally, including for the League of American Orchestras, the Conductors' Guild, the Minister of Culture of Mexico, Berlin Philharmonic Chamber Orchestra and for the Deutscher Musikrat in Germany,[13] as well as at the Royal Academy of Music in London, Oxford University, the Waterville Valley Music Center and in the cities of Chicago, Houston, Leipzig, Moscow, Rome, São Paulo and Salt Lake City.
It takes place at the site of the historic Medomak camp in Maine, where Kiesler himself spent many formative summers in his youth.