The Aviv String Quartet

The Aviv String Quartet was founded in 1997 and has appeared at many venues throughout Israel, including the Jerusalem Music Center, the Jaffa Music Center and the Tel- Aviv Museum of Arts. In May 1998, the Aviv Quartet won the second prize at the International String Quartet Competition at the Prague Spring Festival. The same year the Quartet participated in the summer course given by members of the Amadeus Quartet at the Royal Academy of Music in London and in master classes given by [rvi Gitlis, Levan Chilingirian, Henry Meye!; Arnold Steinhardt, and Miriam Fried. As of October 1998, the Aviv Quartet studies with the members of the Alban Berg Quartet in Cologne, Germany and in the Royal School of Music at Rotterdam with Ben-Zion Shamir. In May 1999, the Aviv Quartet was awarded the Ministry of Education of the Republic of Germany Prize, in April 1999 it won the first prize (Amadeus Quartet Prize) at the international competition in Heerlen, Holand, and also in 1999 it won the first price at the Melbourne International Chamber Music Composition.

Sergei Ostrovsky - Violin I
Sergei Ostrovsky was born in Gorky, Russia. He began playing violin when he was 6 years old, studying at the Gorky Music Academy. Mr. Ostrovsky immigrated to Israel in 1991 and continued his studies with Yair Kless and Irina Svetlova at the Rubin Academy of Music at Tel Aviv University, winning the Lipizer International Violin Competition in Italy. He has been the concertmaster of the Young Israel Philharmonic Orchestra with which he appeared as soloist, both in Israel and on tours abroad. He was a member and acting concertmaster of the Israel Chamber Orchestra, and during the 1997/98 season was concertmaster of the Kibbutz Chamber Orchestra. In March 1999 Mr. Ostrovsky won the first prize in the Spring Competition in Tel-Aviv in the categories - violin playing and best performance for Israeli contemporary music. Evgenia Epstein - Violin II Evgenia Epstein was born in Sverdlovsk (Yekaterinburg), Russia. She began her violin studies at 6 years old and completed the High School for talented Musicians in Sverdlovsk. Evgenia immigrated to Israel in 1990. There, she studied with Arthur Zissman, and at the Rubin Academy of Music, Tel Aviv University with Yair Kless and Irina Svetlova. At the Academy she was the recipient of prizes in violin and chamber music competitions. She has acted as the concertmistress of the Young Israel Philharmonic Orchestra and was a member of Fiamingi (Belgium). During the 1997/98 season she was the concertmaster of the second violin section of the Kibbutz Chamber Orchestra.

Shuli Waterman - Viola
Shuli Waterman, born in Haifa, Israel, studied viola with Gad Levertoff and with Yuri Gandelsman at the Rubin Academy of Music at Tel Aviv University. She completed her studies with John White at the Royal Academy of Music in London. She was the winner of the Theodore Holland Viola Prize at the Royal Academy and the recipient of the Daniel Binyamini Scholarship at the Rubin Academy. She graduated from the Rubin Academy in 1997. Shuli has played with the Young Israel Philharmonic, Jeunesses Musicales, and Shira Festival Orchestras. She has participated in master classes with Rivka Golani, Tabea Zimmerman and Jerzy Kosmala, and appeared with members of the Apple Hill Chamber Music Players in Venice and Amman.

Iris Jortner - Violoncello
Iris Jortner was born in Tel Aviv, Israel. She began her cello studies with Uri Vardi at the age of nine, and later studied with Uzi Wiesel, Aldo Parisot, Paul Katz and Bernard Greenhouse. Iris graduated from the Eastman School of Music in 1995 with a Bachelor's degree. Iris has participated in festivals at Banff, Tanglewood, the NY String Orchestra Seminar with Alexander Schneider, A Classical Winter in Jerusalem, Rolandseck PRO Festival (Germany), and the Bach Aria Group Festival. She has participated in master classes with Janos Starker, Joseph Gingold, Isaac Stern, Menahem Pressler, and members of the Cleveland, Muir, and Guarneri String Quartets. She is the recipient of the "Performer of Connecticut" Award in 1990, and won different prizes at Tanglewood in 1996 and 1997.

Programme