Ariel Quartet, Chamber Music at the Clark 30th Anniversary

New this season: All Chamber Music at the Clark tickets will be sold by the UCLA Central Ticket Office. Tickets may be purchased online, via telephone, or in person. 

Ticket prices: General $55; Senior (age 55+) $45; UCLA student (valid student ID required for each ticket) $15. Tickets are non-refundable.

Tickets for this concert will go on sale Tuesday, February 4 at 12:00 noon.

Seating at the Clark Library is limited, and tickets are likely to sell out within a few minutes.
Online: https://tinyurl.com/3mevyppr
Telephone: (310) 825-2101
In person: Central Ticket Office windows located on the UCLA campus at 325 Westwood Plaza (ground level, across from Pauley Pavilion).

If any tickets for this concert remain unsold, they will be available for purchase at the Clark Library on the day of the event. Any available day-of tickets will be sold on a first-come, first-served basis by a Central Ticket Office representative beginning at 1:00 p.m. Payment will be accepted via credit card only. For inquiries, please call or email the Central Ticket Office at (310) 825-2101 or cto@tickets.ucla.edu, Monday–Friday 10:00 a.m.–4:00 p.m.

Program

Felix Mendelssohn (1809–1847)
String Quartet No. 6 in F Minor, op. 80

Lera Auerbach (b. 1973)
String Quartet No. 3, Cetera Desunt

Benjamin Britten (1913–1976)
String Quartet No. 2 in C Major, op. 36

Ariel Quartet
Alexandra Kazovsky, violin
Gershon Gerchikov, 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.” – The Washington Post

Distinguished by its virtuosity, probing musical insight, and impassioned, fiery performances, the Ariel Quartet has garnered critical praise worldwide for more than twenty years. Formed when the members were just teenagers studying at the Jerusalem Academy Middle School of Music and Dance in Israel, the Ariel was named a recipient of the prestigious Cleveland Quartet Award, granted by Chamber Music America in recognition of artistic achievement and career support. The 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.

Recent highlights include the Ariel Quartet’s Carnegie Hall debut, a series of performances at Lincoln Center together with pianist Inon Barnatan and the Mark Morris Dance Group, as well as the release of a Brahms and Bartók album for Avie Records. In 2020, the Ariel gave the U.S. premiere of the Quintet for Piano and Strings by Daniil Trifonov (with the composer as pianist) for the Linton Chamber Music Series in Cincinnati.

In their 2023-24 season, the Ariel Quartet presented performances of an anniversary commission by Matan Porat. A longstanding friend of the Ariel Quartet, Matan Porat’s new work is a universally relatable journey about the complexities of string-quartetlife over the years. Upcoming performances include ones for the Aspect Chamber Music Series, Perlman Music Program, Amelia Island Chamber Music Festival, Charleston Chamber Music Society, and the Chamber Music Society of Central Kentucky.

The Quartet has dedicated much of its artistic energy and musical prowess to the groundbreaking Beethoven quartets and has performed the complete Beethoven cycle on five occasions throughout the United States and Europe. The Ariel Quartet regularly collaborates with today’s eminent and rising young musicians and ensembles, including pianist Orion Weiss, cellist Paul Katz, and the American, Pacifica, and Jerusalem String Quartets. The Quartet has toured with cellist Alisa Weilerstein and performed frequently with pianists Jeremy Denk and Menahem Pressler. In addition, the Ariel served as Quartet-in-Residence for the Steans Music Institute at the Ravinia Festival, the Yellow Barn Music Festival, and the Perlman Music Program, as well as the Ernst Stiefel String Quartet-in-Residence at the Caramoor Festival.

Formerly the resident ensemble of the Professional String Quartet Training Program at the New England Conservatory, from which the players obtained their undergraduate and graduate degrees, the Ariel was mentored extensively by acclaimed string quartet giants Walter Levin and Paul Katz. It 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. About its performances at the Banff 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 for its studies in the United States from the American-Israel Cultural Foundation, Dov and Rachel Gottesman, and the Legacy Heritage Fund.

Most recently, they were awarded a grant from the A.N. and Pearl G. Barnett Family Foundation.

For further information see www.arielquartet.com

Ariel Quartet is represented by MKI Artists https://mkiartists.com/

Chamber Music at the Clark
Professor Rogers Brubaker, Artistic Director

Chamber Music at the Clark will be celebrating its 30th anniversary season in 2024–25. Thanks to the generous support of Friends of the Clark, the series has presented over 175 concerts, featuring some of the world’s finest chamber ensembles, in its uniquely intimate drawing room venue with its superb acoustics. The anniversary season will feature two special tributes. The November 17, 2024 concert will honor the late Peter Hanns Reill, who served for nearly two decades as Center and Clark Director, and who founded the series in 1994. The April 27, 2025 concert will honor Bruce Whiteman, who served as Head Librarian of the Clark from 1996 until 2010, and who has written our wonderful program notes for a quarter of a century. We hope you will be able to join us for another splendid season of music-making.

Chamber Music at the Clark is made possible by The Ahmanson Foundation, under the auspices of Lee Walcott; Henry J. Bruman Endowment for Chamber Music; The Colburn Foundation; Ms. Brenda Anderson; Mrs. Martha R. Bardach; Catherine Glynn Benkaim, Ph.D. and Barbara Timmer; Dr. Rogers Brubaker; Dr. Johanna R. Drucker; Dr. Susan S. Harris and Mr. Mark J. Harris; Ms. Judy L. Hellinger; Dr. David E. Lopez; Drs. Martin and Susan Mach; Mr. Bernie and Ms. Elaine Mendes; Mrs. Janet K. Minami; Mr. Jeffrey L. Nagin and Mrs. Bette I. Nagin; Dr. Theodore M. Porter; Dr. Jeanne Robson; Dr. Thomas Rosenthal and Ms. Susan M. Rosenthal; Ms. Carol E. Sandberg; Charles H. and Carol “Jackie” Schwartz; Dr. Patricia Bates Simun and Mr. Richard V. Simun Memorial Fund; Professor Bronwen Wilson; and Roberta and Robert Young.

Please see here for more information about our chamber music programs.

Photograph credit: Marco Borggreve, courtesy of the Ariel Quartet