Harrowing Quartets from Ariel and Violins of Hope
The Violins of Hope, a collection of string instruments that survived the Nazi Holocaust in the hands of Jewish internees or refugees, made a return visit to Kohl Mansion in Burlingame on Sunday, Feb. 16, as part of the project’s current Bay Area residency. This time the instruments were in the hands of the Ariel Quartet, founded 20 years ago in Israel and now faculty quartet-in-residence at the University of Cincinnati.
To acknowledge the harrowing history of these instruments, the Ariel programmed them in two of the grimmest, most death-obsessed string quartets in the repertoire: Schubert’s Quartet No. 14 in D Minor (“Death and the Maiden”), D. 810, and Shostakovich’s Quartet No. 8 in C Minor, Op. 110. Schubert’s work is said to be his response to facing a fatal illness at a young age. Shostakovich’s is publicly dedicated to the victims of fascism and World War II, while privately the composer intended it as a self-eulogy. These works are uncompromisingly searing.
Read More
Ariel Quartet took audience along on a thrill ride
The Calgary Pro Musica season opened last weekend with a pair of concerts by the Ariel Quartet, a group that is also the resident faculty quartet at the large and prestigious Cincinnati College-Conservatory in Ohio.Given their youthful appearance and manner, it is hard to imagine these are 20-year veterans of the concert circuit. Following numerous competition successes, including The Banff International String Quartet Competition, the group has gone on to establish itself as a significant actor in the world of touring string quartets — a significant accomplishment in a highly competitive business.
Read More
Ariel Gardners for Borromeo
Prior to the start of Sunday’s ISG concert, Sarah Whitling announced that the Borromeo would not be able to perform as scheduled and that we would be hearing instead the Ariel String Quartet, graduates of NEC and currently Quartet-in-Residence at University of Cincinnati’s College-Conservatory of Music. With the Borromeo’s
Read More
Hampshire Gazette
The 36th season of Music in Deerfield began with a concert by the Ariel Quartet at Sweeney Hall of Smith College in Northampton last Saturday, attended by a large and appreciative audience...
Read More
The Strad
A Haydn quartet can feel like an appetizer - nice but perhaps insignificant. The Ariel Quartet, on the other hand, presented op.76 no.1 with vitality, clarity of line, depth of sound and an impeccable sense of direction. The Menuetto: Presto sparkled with imagination (especially from first violinist Alexandra Kazovsky) and although occasionally the ensemble felt top-heavy, the piece was a joy.
Read More
The New York Times
Few concerts reach climaxes in the encores. After an hour or two of strenuous playing, it’s certainly not unusual for performers to be reluctant to push themselves too much further. Even if the party pieces unveiled when musicians are called back for more burst with dazzling notes, they often end up being merely pleasant.
Read More
The Times-Picayune
Alisa Weilerstein played for the New Orleans Friends of Music on Monday (Feb. 3), and the superstar cellist made it clear that years of international touring, big name collaborators, glowing reviews, and a MacArthur "genius grant" haven't gone to her 31-year-old head. In fact, Weilerstein proved a total team player in an expansive program that paired her with the Ariel Quartet...
Read More
Music in Cincinnati
A journey of Beethoven’s complete string quartets began with three Thursday evening in Corbett Auditorium at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music.
Read More
The Enquirer
The Ariel Quartet has begun a feat that few string quartets have ever attempted. On Thursday, the Ariel – quartet-in-residence at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music – performed the first installment in a complete survey of all 17 of Beethoven’s String Quartets.The Ariel will be the first ensemble to perform “The Cycle” in Cincinnati. And they are doing it all in eight weeks, before its members turn 30.
Read More
The Herald-Tribune
The Ariel String Quartet brings a unique and intensely courageous spirit to the second in a series of six concerts presenting the entire cycle of Beethoven’s string quartets this season in Sarasota. This is the first time they will have completed the cycle — all before the members reach their 30th birthdays.
Read More
The Herald-Tribune
The Perlman Music Program has engaged the youthful Ariel Quartet to present a complete cycle of Ludwig van Beethoven's string quartets in six concerts during October, February and May, the first time this cycle has been heard in its entirety here.
At the first concert, heard in the intimate...
Read More
Music in Cincinnati
Cincinnati will have its own Beethoven cycle next season, thanks to the Ariel String Quartet, quartet-in-residence at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music.The announcement was made at the ensemble’s final concert of the season Tuesday evening in Werner Recital Hall at CCM...
Read More
The Beat Magazine
How wonderful to be young, on the threshold of a serious, glamorous career in the arts, to be part of a collective of chamber musicians! This is the happy state of the Ariel Quartet, whose members are now enjoying the bloom of professional success. This group, formed in Israel, and currently based in the U.S., has achieved recognition...
Read More
ABC 7 NEWS
VENICE - During the recent recession, when budget cuts hit Suncoast schools, a wave of fear went through many local educators and parents, afraid officials would drop music and arts classes in an effort to save money. The cuts came, but the musical programs in the schools didn't suffer.
Read More
The Washington Post
Cataclysmic times, it’s often said, produce great art. Take the early 20th century, when a Europe ripped apart by war and social upheaval suddenly found 19th century Romanticism irrelevant — and began giving birth to the revolutionary, exhilarating and world-changing movement known as Modernism.
Read More
Music in Cincinnati
Tuesday night's debut of the Ariel String Quartet at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music was a joke -- two jokes, in fact, one by Haydn, one by Beethoven. Specifically, Haydn's Quartet in E-flat Major, Op. 33, No. 2, subtitled "The Joke," and Beethoven's Op. 135 in F Major, wherein the composer implanted words falsely suggesting the deepest gravity.
Read More
