Ariel Quartet
Gershon Gerchikov, violin | Alexandra Kazovsky, violin | Jan Grüning, viola | Amit Even-Tov, cello
“...a gripping and often very subtle reading, setting ear-melting tenderness against seething passion with a deft and precise touch.”
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Recent highlights include a Carnegie Hall debut, the U.S. premiere of the Quintet for Piano and Strings by Daniil Trifonov in dual roles as pianist and composer, recording of Brahms and Bartok for Avie Records, and a concert at Lincoln Center with Inon Barnatan and the Mark Morris Dance Group.
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The Ariel Quartet thrills audiences with its virtuosity, probing musical insight, and impassioned, fiery performances.
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In addition to the Cleveland Quartet Award, the Ariel Quartet has won numerous international prizes in addition to the Cleveland Quartet Award: Grand Prize at the 2006 Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition and the Székely Prize for the performance of Bartók’s String Quartet No. 4, and Third Prize at the Banff International String Quartet Competition.
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The Ariel Quartet serves as the Faculty Quartet-in-Residence at the University of Cincinnati’s College-Conservatory of Music, where they direct the chamber music program and present a concert series in addition to maintaining a busy touring schedule in the United States and abroad.
Distinguished by its virtuosity, probing musical insight, and impassioned, fiery performances, the Ariel Quartet has garnered critical praise worldwide for more than a quarter of a century. Formed when the members were just teenagers, the Ariel was recently named recipient of the prestigious Cleveland Quartet Award granted by Chamber Music America. In addition to maintaining a busy international touring schedule, the Quartet serves as the Faculty Quartet-in-Residence at the University of Cincinnati’s College-Conservatory of Music.
The Ariel has performed at leading venues across the globe, including Carnegie Hall, the Lincoln Center, the Kennedy Center and the Kaisersaal in Frankfurt. Their recording of Brahms and Bartók for Avie Records has been critically acclaimed, and they regularly collaborate with artists such as Inon Barnatan, the Mark Morris Dance Group, and cellist Alisa Weilerstein.
In their 2024-25 season, the Ariel Quartet presents performances for University Musical Society, Newport Classical, Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, Chamber Music Columbus, Friends of Chamber Music - Vancouver, University of Iowa, and Chamber Music Society Williamsburg. A tour of Northern Italy and Germany has them scheduled to appear for the Klangwelt Klassik Series and in Munich’s famous castle, Schloss Nymphenburg.
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Renowned for their interpretations of Beethoven’s quartets, the Ariel Quartet has performed the complete Beethoven cycle numerous times throughout the United States and Europe. They regularly collaborate with eminent musicians, including pianists Jeremy Denk and Orion Weiss, cellists Paul Watkins and Claudio Bohorquez and in 2020, the Quartet gave the U.S. premiere of the Quintet for Piano and Strings by Daniil Trifonov with the composer as pianist. They have also served as Quartet-in-Residence for leading institutions such as the Ravinia Festival’s Steans Music Institute, the Yellow Barn Music Festival, and the Perlman Music Program.
The Ariel was mentored extensively by acclaimed string quartet giants Walter Levin and Paul Katz, and they have won numerous international prizes: 2003 First Prize at the Franz Schubert Competition in Graz/Austria, the Grand Prize at the 2006 Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition, the Székely Prize for the performance of Bartók’s String Quartet No. 4, and Third Prize at the Banff International String Quartet Competition. The American Record Guide described the group as “a consummate ensemble gifted with utter musicality and remarkable interpretive power” and noted, in particular, their playing of Beethoven’s monumental Quartet in A minor, Op. 132, as “the pinnacle of the competition.”
The Ariel Quartet has received significant support from the American-Israel Cultural Foundation, Dov and Rachel Gottesman, and the Legacy Heritage Fund, and were awarded a grant from the A.N. and Pearl G. Barnett Family Foundation.
Beyond their musical pursuits, the members of the Ariel Quartet bring a rich diversity of passions to their lives. Gershon is a programming enthusiast and espresso aficionado, known for his expertise in spreadsheets and his love of Satsivi and Bourbon. Sasha, a supermom of two boys, channels her creativity through arts and crafts and finds joy in hiking and the outdoors. Jan, a private chef-level culinary artist, is a home barista and father of three girls, and Amit, a master baker and pastry expert, delights in perfecting her cappuccino craft while being a supermom of the same three girls.
For more information visit www.arielquartet.com
August 2024 – Please do not edit without permission.
Videos
Programs & Repertoire
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PROGRAM I (ALL SEASON) - ANCESTRAL VOICES
Matan Porat: Four Ladino Songs (commissioned by ASQ)
Arr. ASQ: Songs & Poetry from our Heritage
*****
Franz Schubert: String Quartet No. 14 in D minor, D. 810 “Death and the Maiden”
Ancestral Voices opens with Matan Porat’s Four Ladino Songs, a tremendously compelling piece commissioned in 2018 on the occasion of our 20th anniversary. The unique work powerfully integrates authentic Ladino music, features a one-of-a-kind twist at its culmination and instantly was and remained an absolute audience favorite.Presenting a partially unannounced program has quickly evolved into a ground-breaking form of unfiltered and evocative communication for us, making it the platform of choice to meaningfully incorporate a diverse selection of our favorite vocal music from the countries of our ancestors into this program (Israel, Germany, Poland, Latvia, Ukraine and Russia, to name a few). The transcriptions are our own and reflect a colorful, emotionally varied and accessible mixture of flavors ranging from simple folk tunes to rarely performed works by lesser-known composers.
We conclude this journey with Franz Schubert’s String Quartet in D minor, D. 810, famously nicknamed ‘Death and the Maiden’, as its variation movement borrows the well-known theme from the song of the same title. In addition to its undisputed status as one of the pillars of the chamber music repertoire it also holds a tremendous degree of personal significance for us: having performed and lived with it for almost all of our 25 years together, it is closely related to our first major professional success in winning the ‘Franz Schubert and Modern Music’ Competition in Graz as teenagers – an outcome so unexpected we showed up to the award ceremony dressed in sweatpants... but that is a story for a post-concert meal!
PROGRAM II - REQUIEM
Felix Mendelssohn: String Quartet in F minor, Op. 80
Lera Auerbach: String Quartet No. 3 “Cetera Desunt”
*****
Benjamin Britten: String Quartet No. 2 in C Major, Op. 36
As artists we have a need and an obligation to reflect on and process collective and subjective experiences in our craft. As humanity emerged from social isolation slowly finding its way back into the concert hall the world entered yet another round of devastating wars, and our thoughts and feelings naturally turned to repertoire reflecting this need.Felix Mendelssohn’s Quartet Op. 80 was written shortly after his sister Fanny tragically passed away due to complications from a stroke. Mendelssohn himself died shortly thereafter from the same cause, making this quartet his final completed work.
In the spirit of Lera Auerbach’s reluctance to explain her own music we will shy away from any literal interpretations and let the music speak for itself. Suffice it to say that the title of the piece - “Cetera Desunt” (‘The Rest is Absent’) - and, more importantly, its musical message feels right at home in this program centered around mourning and loss.
In July of 1945 Benjamin Britten traveled to Germany together with violinist Yehudi Menuhin, and during a period of ten days the pair played fourteen recitals for concentration camp survivors. It is impossible to put into words what this experience must have left them with, but music has the power to convey what words cannot. Britten’s String Quartet No. 2, Op. 36 in C major, written in the wake of this ‘concert tour’, leaves us completely depleted and yet deeply touched, changed, with a prevailing
sense of having witnessed experiences no human should have to endure, and yet so many have.
Filled to the brim with contrast and expressivity, the works displayed in ‘Requiem’ trace three dramatically different composers’ responses to loss, be it personal or collective, explicit or implicit, and the resulting experience is a riveting and emotionally stirring Aristotelian Catharsis.
PROGRAM III - SCHNITTKE DECONSTRUCTED
Orlando di Lasso, arr. ASQ: excerpt from Stabat Mater
Alfred Schnittke: String Quartet No. 3 (1983)
Orlando di Lasso, arr. ASQ: excerpt from Stabat Mater
Dmitri Shostakovich: String Quartet No. 8 in C minor, Op. 110
*****
Orlando di Lasso, arr. ASQ: excerpt from Stabat Mater
Ludwig van Beethoven: String Quartet B-flat major, Op. 133
Ferran Adrià, chef and owner of ‘elBulli’, undoubtedly the most controversial and experimental restaurant in the world, famously invented the concept of ‘deconstructed food’ in the late 80s/early 90s, and in this program we are applying the revolutionary concept to music. In modern cuisine, a typically well-known dish is presented in a ‘deconstructed’ fashion with the goal to create a meal that is physically different from the original but retains all of its flavors. More than a technique, it is the art to simply change the form and keep the basic nature of the dish with the goal of stimulating the senses.Seth Brodsky describes Alfred Schnittke’s third string quartet as ‘one of those remarkable works that perfectly synthesizes form and content, ends and means, and in doing so rightfully earns the mantle "classic." Despite its relatively recent conception in 1983, it has already become one of the most popular works in the post-1945 repertory which makes it an ideal choice for “musical deconstruction.” Based on broadly diversified influences such as Orlando di Lasso, Ludwig van Beethoven and Dmitri Shostakovich, Schnittke utilized older, more recognizable musical models lending the work enormous concentration.
Fascinating literature analyzes this work in great detail, but the purpose of Schnittke Deconstructed is to award the listener an opportunity to unlock their own deeper intuitive access to the work by displaying the ‘ingredients’ side by side with the piece itself. Shostakovich’s string quartet No. 8 in C minor, Op. 110, and Beethoven's eternal ‘Große Fuge’ Op. 133 are pillars on the program, with transcribed excerpts of Orlando di Lasso’s incredible 16th century Stabat Mater providing a red thread throughout the narrative.
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PROGRAM I – WUNDERKIND
Franz Schubert: String Quartet No. 8 in B-flat major, Op. 168, D. 112
Benjamin Britten: Quartettino
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Felix Mendelssohn: String Quartet in A minor, Op. 13Wunderkind explores the remarkable artistry achieved at a young age by three giants of the music world, featuring breathtaking works composed by Franz Schubert, Benjamin Britten, and Felix Mendelssohn, all written during their teenage years.
PROGRAM II – VIENNESE SCHOOL MIXTAPE
Joseph Haydn: String Quartet in E-flat major, Op. 33, No. 2, “The Joke”
Alban Berg: String Quartet, Op. 3
*****
Ludwig van Beethoven: String Quartet in B-flat major, Op. 130 (with Op. 133 Grosse Fuge ending)PROGRAM III – PRAYER
Lera Auerbach: Primera Luz
Matan Porat: Four Ladino Songs*
commissioned by the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music for the Ariel Quartet
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Ludwig van Beethoven: String Quartet in A minor, Op. 132*Alternatively available is a collaboration with Clarinetist David Krakauer for Osvaldo Golijov’s The Dreams and Prayers of Isaac the Blind
PROJECTS
PROJECT I - AMERICAN DREAM
Unannounced Half: Music and spoken word
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Antonín Dvořák: Quartet in F major, Op. 96, “American”This program is designed to amplify the voices of composers of diverse backgrounds who had one thing in common: the pursuit of their unique version of an American Dream. The first half of this program is an unannounced collection of pieces intertwined with inspirational quotes to guide the listener through this journey, followed by one of the most iconic pieces written for the genre: Dvořák’s “American” quartet.
The identity of the featured composers will be revealed to the audience during intermission.
PROJECT II - BENJAMIN BRITTEN
Benjamin Britten: String Quartet No. 1 in D major, Op. 25 (1941)
Benjamin Britten: String Quartet No. 2 in C major, Op. 36 (1945)
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Benjamin Britten: String Quartet No. 3 in G major, Op. 94 (1975)Benjamin Britten, undoubtedly one of the most unique and influential composers of the 20th century, passed away in 1976, and we regard his string quartet output as unbelievably powerful and communicative. Join us in celebrating this master’s legacy through the rarely offered lens of his three major works for String Quartet.
Projects
