Sergey Ostrovsky, Violin
Evgenia Epshtein, Violin
Nathan Braude, Viola
Rachel Mercer, Cello

Founded in Israel and a decade into its expanding musical life, the Aviv String Quartet is giving concerts across the globe in critically acclaimed performances. From Cape Town to Stockholm and from China to Brazil Aviv is rapidly emerging as one of today’s finest chamber ensembles. The numerous prizes they have received include Grand Prize and four special prizes at the Melbourne Chamber Music Competition, top prize and Critics’ Prize at the Bordeaux String Quartet Competition and First Prize (Amadeus Prize) at the Charles Hennen Competition in Holland.

Aviv Quartet has performed at Weill Recital Hall, Alice Tully Hall, the Kennedy Center, Library of Congress, Ottawa Chamber Music Society, Herbst Theatre for San Francisco Performances in the United States;  Wigmore Hall and the South Bank Centre in London; the Louvre Auditorium, Chatelet, and Théâtre de la Ville in Paris; the Sydney Opera House, the Verbier Festival in Switzerland (complete Shostakovich quartet cycle), Vienna Konzerthaus, Cologne Philharmonie, Beethovenhaus in Bonn and Palais des Beaux Arts in Brussels. They give master classes around the world—recently at Georgetown University in Washington D.C.,  Mizra Chamber Music seminar in Israel, the University of Southern California,  and the University of Winnipeg.

The quartet has counted among its mentors Isaac Stern, the Alban Berg Quartet, Walter Levin, Henry Meyer, and Ben-Zion Shamir and has collaborated with artists such as Yefim Bronfman, Boris Petrushansky, Anton Dressler, Toby Appel, Gilles Vonsattel, Boris Berman and Pierre-Laurent Aimard.

Most recently, Aviv recorded three quartets of Erwin Schulhoff for Naxos and completed a month-long tour in North America and Israel. Summer at the Kfar Blum Festival in Israel will be followed by concerts during the fall season in Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Sweden and the United Kingdom - including two appearances at Wigmore Hall in October—and the complete cycle of Shostakovich quartets in Canada.

Aviv means “spring” in Hebrew—signifying new beginnings, a fresh outlook, the season of birth, and the shedding of coverings to reveal true nature, sharper definition and heightened awareness.

Rachel plays the ca. 1696 Bonjour Antonio Stradivarius cello valued at $8 million on loan for three years from the Canada Council for the Arts, generously—and anonymously—donated.

Website: avivquartet.com

“...Mr. Ostrovsky play[ed] the singing first violin line with breathtaking beauty, and the rest of the ensemble provid[ed] both sumptuousness and, when Janacek demanded it, unabashed harshness.” “...a reading as trim and focused as you’re likely to hear.”

—New York Times

“Speaking of fire, the Mendelssohn Quartet no. 6 in F minor is one of the composer's most passionate and even incendiary works. You probably shouldn't play it in the interior of British Columbia during the summer, at least not the way the Avivs did last night.”

—Ottawa Citizen, Richard Todd

“If this concert is anything to go by, the Aviv String Quartet, founded in 1997, is rapidly emerging as one of today’s finest chamber ensembles...An impressive evening that marked the Aviv String Quartet out as a force to be reckoned with.”

—The Guardian, London

“The Aviv Quartet led by Sergey Ostrovsky is the most exciting ensemble that I have heard for some time and they are, I feel, destined for an esteemed career.”

—Michael Cookson, Classical Music Web

“Mendelssohn's F minor has such a powerful presence in recital as to tend to erase memories of other performances, whilst it grabs and holds you. It found the Aviv's maintaining their peak form…”

—P. G. Woolf, Musical Pointers

“…I shall content myself with saying that on this occasion I found virtually nothing to fault in the Aviv’s playing this challenging program.” (Wigmore Hall)

—T. Porter, The Strad

“What colours those four develop from a score which contains only the absolutely necessary, which refuses itself to any opulence. How precise (and well-balanced) they deploy these colours in order to emotionalise the pure, most articulately depicted structure. With what secure sense of style do they seek the drama behind the notes. In what a fantastic manner do they let the musical time flow through all of them in their collective. And how perfectly do they intonate…” (Zurich Tonhalle)

—Neue Zürche Zeitung

“... the Aviv's tightly honed ensemble made itself felt in its no-fail interaction and sense of continuity...”

—C. Porter, The Washington Post

“The Aviv Quartet high standards were everywhere apparent in its appearance Wednesday evening at Kennedy Center's Terrace Theater”

—Ronald Broun, The Washington Post

“Aviv String Quartet is rapidly emerging as one of today's finest chamber ensembles. Rich, warm and distinctive in sound, their playing combining technical exactitude with instinctive emotional intensity. Their methodology is often striking. With many quartets, the first violinist tends to be the principal figure. Here, however, the second violinist Evgenia Epshtein and viola player Shuli Waterman are predominant, anchoring their performances in rhythmic and harmonic density and gradually prying the music open from within, while the leader, Sergey Ostrovsky and cellist Rachel Mercer weave gracious tendrils of sound around them. ” (Wigmore Hall)

—T. Ashley, The Guardian

“In one listening the players practically became Shostakovich specialists . . .” (Shostakovich Centenary in London)”

—E.Bhesania, The Strad

“This splendid young Israeli quartet – it hardly seems possible that it has been going only six years.”

—Tully Potter, The Strad

“These charming Israeli and Canadian performers reveal many rich layers in the profoundly involving Fourth Quartet. It’s exciting to see a gifted, patently youthful ensemble emerging in chamber music…” (Shostakovich 2 new CDs)

—Roderic Dannett, The Strad

“The Aviv Quartet’s playing is filled with excitement and energy and also exhibits nimbleness as well as stunning command of their instruments” (Hoffmeister CD)

—Michael Carter, Fanfare

1. Program options:
• Beethoven Quartet op. 74 “Harp”
  or Haydn Op. 64 no. 5 “Lark
• Shostakovich Quartet no. 9 or no. 13
  or Uri Brener no. 3 “Spring” (dedicated to Aviv)
• INTERMISSION
• Schubert Quartet no. 15 in G major
  or Brahms Piano Quintet with Robert Kulek – October, 2010
  or Dvorak Piano Quintet with Gwendolyn Mok – March 2011
2. Bartok Cycle of 6 Quartets (two concerts or one long marathon with 2 breaks)
3. Shostakovich Cycle (five concerts)
4. Beethoven Cycle (six concerts)