The Aviv Quartet was founded in 1997 and has appeared at many venues throughout Israel, including the Jerusalem Music Center (Mishkenot Shaanim), the Jaffa Music Center, and the Tel-Aviv Museum of Arts.  In 1998, the quartet participated in the summer course given by members of the Amadeus Quartet at the Royal Academy of Music in London.

In July 1998, it performed as the resident quartet at the Kfar Blum Festival (Upper Galilee Music Days).  In addition to participating in the Amadeus Quartet Week, the Aviv Quartet has participated in master classes given by Ivri Gitlis, Levon Chilingirian, Henry Meyer, Arnold Steinhardt, and Miriam Fried, and in June 1998 was the Israeli representative at the ìEncountersî chamber music course in Jerusalem under the direction of Maestro Isaac Stern and with the participation of members of the Emerson and Juilliard Quartets.  In May 1998, the Aviv Quartet won Second prize at the International String Quartet Competition at the Prague Spring Festival.

As of October 1998, the Aviv Quartet will be studying with the members of the Alban Berg Quartet in Köln, Germany.

All members of the quartet are recipients of scholarships from the America-Israel Cultural Foundation.

The quartet can be contacted as follows:

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• Sergei Ostrovsky was born in Gorky, Russia.  He has began playing violin when 6 years old, studying at the Gorky Music Academy. He 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.  He was the winner of the Lipizzi International Violin Competition, Italy.  He has served as concertmaster of the Young Israel Philharmonic Orchestra with which he appeared as soloist.  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.

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• Evgenia Epstein was born in Sverdlovsk (Yekaterinburg), Russia.  She began violin studies when 6 years old and completed high school for talented musicians in Sverdlovsk.  Evgenia immigrated to Israel in 1990 and studied with Arthur Zissman, and at the Rubin Academy of Music, Tel Aviv University with Yair Kless and Irina Svetlova where she has been the winner of prizes in violin and chamber music.  She has been concertmistress of the Young Israel Philharmonic Orchestra and a member if I Fiamini (Belgium).  During the 1997/98 season she was leader of the second violin section of the Kibbutz Chamber Orchestra.

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• Shuli Waterman was born in Haifa, Israel.  She studied with Gad Levertoff and with Yuri Gandelsman at the Rubin Academy of Music at Tel Aviv University and with John White at the Royal Academy of Music in London.  She was the winner of the Theodore Holland Viola Prize at the Royal Acadmy and 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 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.

 

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• Iris Jortner was born in Tel Aviv, Israel.  She began cello studies with Uri Vardi when 9 years old, 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 Bachelorís 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, and received the ìPerformer of Connecticutî award in 1990, and prizes at Tanglewood in 1996 and 1997.