Ariel String Quartet, With Cellist Paul Katz, To Open Season For Newtown Friends Of Music

Ariel String Quartet will be joined by veteran cellist Paul Katz to perform Schubert’s String Quintet in C Major, D163, during the first concert of the 2012-13 season of offerings sponsored by Newtown Friends of Music. The performance will take place on Sunday, September 9, at 3 pm, at Edmond Town Hall Theatre, 45 Main Street.

The Ariel String Quartet, characterized by its youth, its brilliant playing, and soulful interpretations, has quickly earned a glowing international reputation. In January 2012 the quartet was named quartet-in-residence at the University of Cincinnati’s College-Conservatory of Music. Formed in Israel, the Quartet moved to the US in 2004 to continue its professional studies, and has performed extensively in Israel, Europe, and North America, in such venues as the Louvre in Paris, Kaisersaal in Frankfurt,  Jordan Hall in Boston, and the Washington Performing Arts Society, the Corcoran Gallery, and the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C.

Members are the violinists Gershon Gerchikov and Alexandra Kazovsky, violist Jan Grüning, and cellist Amit Even-Tov.

Paul Katz is cellist of the former Cleveland Quartet, and remains a passionate spokesperson for chamber music. He has received many honors, including most recently Chevalier du Violoncelle, awarded by the Eva Janzer Memorial Cello Center at Indiana University.

Mr Katz performs on an Andrea Guarneri cello dated 1669.

In addition to the Schubert work, the program for September 9 will also feature String Quartet No. 21 in D by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and String Quartet No.2 in C, Op.36, by the 20th Century British composer Benjamin Britten. 

Tickets for Sunday are $25, cash or check only, payable at the Edmond Town Hall box office. As always, students K-12 are admitted free of charge when accompanied by a ticket-holding adult.

The box office will open at 2 pm on the day of the concert. Tickets may be reserved by calling 203-426-6470. Season tickets are also available; details about the remainder of NFoM’s 2012-13 season are available online at www.NewtownFriendsOfMusic.org.

Edmond Town Hall is handicapped accessible with all seating providing excellent viewing and acoustics. An informal reception following the concert will offer concert goers the opportunity to meet and mingle with the musicians.