The ARIEL QUARTET has garnered critical praise worldwide for more than twenty-five years. Formed when the members were teenagers studying at the Jerusalem Academy Middle School of Music and Dance in Israel, the Ariel is a recipient of the prestigious Cleveland Quartet Award, granted by Chamber Music America in recognition of artistic achievement and career support. Since 2012 the Quartet has served as Faculty Quartet-in-Residence at the University of Cincinnati’s College-Conservatory of Music where they direct the chamber music program. In addition to maintaining a busy touring schedule in the United States and abroad, they have served as Quartet-in-Residence for the Steans Music Institute at the Ravinia Festival, the Perlman Music Program, as well as the Ernst Stiefel String Quartet-in-Residence at the Caramoor Festival in New York.
Violinist ALEXANDRA KAZOVSKY is Associate Professor of Violin and Chamber Music at the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music. She pursued initial studies in Jerusalem and is a graduate of the “Young Musicians Unit” (now the David Goldmann Program for young artists) of the Jerusalem Music Centre. In addition to her extensive performance experience as a founding member of the Ariel Quartet, Ms. Kazovsky performed with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra and the Yad Harif Chamber Orchestra, and won the Israel Broadcasting Authority Young Artists Competition. Having received her Master’s degree from the New England Conservatory while studying with Miriam Fried, Ms. Kazovsky graduated from NEC’s Professional String Quartet Studies program, during which she continued her violin studies with Donald Weilerstein.
A founding member of the Ariel Quartet, Israeli-Latvian violinist GERSHON GERCHIKOV began his violin studies under the guidance of Daniel Fradkin, Moshe Gershovitz, and Ludmila Feldman in Jerusalem, and is a graduate of the “Young Musicians Unit” (now the David Goldmann Program for young artists) of the Jerusalem Music Centre. Subsequently Mr. Gerchikov studied at the New England Conservatory with Lucy Chapman and Miriam Fried, and graduated from NEC’s Professional String Quartet Studies program, during which he continued his violin studies with Miriam Fried and Donald Weilerstein. He serves as Associate Professor of Violin and Chamber Music at the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music.
Violist JAN GRÜNING serves as tenured Associate Professor of Viola and Chamber Music at the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music. Having been awarded the Marie-Luise Imbusch Foundation prize in 2005, a prestigious scholarship of the DAAD (German Academic Exchange Service) followed enabling him to study abroad, he completed his studies at the Musikhochschule Lübeck with Barbara Westphal and the New England Conservatory of Music with Kim Kashkashian. He has participated and performed at various festivals both in Europe and North America such as Orford/Canada, the Verbier Festival, the IMS Prussia Cove and the International Tibor Varga Academy in Sion.
Cellist AMIT EVEN-TOV began her studies with Sabina Frankenberg, Uzi Weisel, Hillel Zori, Michael Homizer, and Zvi Plesser in Israel and was awarded First Prize at the Paul Ben-Haim Competition in 2001, Third Prize at the Israel Broadcasting Authority Young Artists Competition in 2002, as well as the First Prize in the special Jerusalem Academy Competition in 2003. She studied with Paul Katz at the New England Conservatory, and graduated from NEC’s Professional String Quartet Studies program, during which she continued her cello studies with Laurence Lesser. In addition to her work with the Ariel Quartet, she serves as Associate Professor of Cello and Chamber Music at the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music.
