Ariel touches down in Neskowin
The Ariel Quartet will return to the Oregon Coast for the final Neskowin Chamber Music concert of the season at Camp Winema this Sunday, May 21.
Ariel last performed at Neskowin in 2018.
Although members are only in their late 20s and 30s, the quartet recently celebrated its twentieth anniversary as a group.
Formed in Israel, the group moved to the United States in 2004 so its members could continue their professional studies. The four attended the New England Conservatory’s prestigious Professional String Quartet Training Program and graduated in 2010. In 2020, they won the Cleveland Quartet Award granted by Chamber Music America.
In 2014, Ariel was named quartet-in-residence at the University of Cincinnati College Conservatory of Music where members direct the chamber music program. They also have a full schedule of concerts there and in venues around the US and in Europe. A performance at the Kennedy Center featured music by three generations of Israeli composers. The group made its Carnegie Hall debut in 2015.
In recent years, the ensemble dedicated much of its artistic energy to the groundbreaking Beethoven quartets and has performed the complete Beethoven cycle on five occasions throughout the US and Europe.
Alexandra Kazovsky began playing the violin at the age of six. Two years later, her family immigrated to Israel from Russia where she studied at the Rubin Conservatory and the Academy of Music and Dance in Jerusalem. She has performed as a soloist with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra and Yad Harif Chamber Orchestra.
Israeli cellist Amit Even-Tov started studying the cello at the age of six. She won first prizes in a number of competitions in 2001 and 2002. After winning a Jerusalem Academy Competition in 2003, she made a solo appearance with the academy orchestra and conductor Ilan Schul.
That led to an appearance with the Israel Stage Orchestra broadcast live on Israel Radio.
Jan Gruning, a native of Munich, studied privately with principal violinists of both the Bavarian Radio Symphony and the Bavarian State Opera House. He later studied at the Musikhochschule Lubeck from 2002 to 2008. In 2010, he enrolled in the New England Conservatory of Music from which he received a master’s degree in 2020.
Israeli violinist Gershon Gerchikov began his violin studies at the age of five. He continued his training at the Rubin Conservatory and the Academy of Music and Dance, both located in Jerusalem. While still living in Israel, he performed with the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra, Yad Harif Chamber Orchestra and the St. Petersburg Radio Orchestra. Gerchikov plays on a Petrus Guameri violin on loan from the America-Israel Cultural Foundation.
Sunday’s concert begins at 3 pm. Camp Winema is located three miles north of Neskowin, just off Highway 101. Tickets are $30 at the door.
For more information, go to neskowinchambermusic.com or call 503-965-6499.