Aviv String Quartet
Sergey Ostrovsky -Violin I * Evgenia Epshtein - Violin II
Rachel Mercer - Cello * Shuli Waterman - Viola
Evgenia Epshtein was born in Sverdlovsk (Yekaterinburg), Russia. She began her violin studies at 6 years of age and completed the "High School for Talented Musicians" in Sverdlovsk. Evgenia immigrated to Israel in 1990. There, she studied with Arthur Zisserman, Yair Kless and Irena Svetlova at the Tel Aviv Academy of Music and with Benzion Shamir at the Rotterdam Royal Academy, where she got her Master Degree. At the Academy, she was the recipient of prizes in violin and chamber music competitions and took part in the Master Classes of Isaac Stern, Henry Mayer, Zakhar Bron etc.
She has acted as the concertmistress of the Young Israel Philharmonic Orchestra and was a member of "I Fiamini" (Belgium). During the 1997/98 season she was the concertmaster of the second violin section of the Kibbutz Chamber Orchestra. Evgenia Epshtein is a member of several chamber projects, performing music from the Baroque to the Contemporary.
She is playing seventeenth century violin by Ruggeri, granted by the American-Israeli
Cultural Foundation.
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Shuli Waterman, born in Haifa, Israel, studied viola with John White at the Royal academy of music in London. She was the first prizewinner of the "Theodor Holland" viola competition at the Royal academy.
Shuli completed her studies at the Rubin Academy at the Tel Aviv university
with Violist Yuri Gandelsman ("Fine Arts Quartet"). Shuli was the
recipient of the "Daniel Binyamini" viola Scholarship. She has participated
in master classes with Tabea Zimmermann and Rivka Golani.
Shuli is one of the leading members of the "Tel Aviv Soloists" ensemble.
Shuli often performs as second violist with the well known French Ysaÿe
quartet. She has recently recorded with them the Beethoven String quintet (Ysaÿe
records), and will be performing with them the complete Mozart string quintets
at concerts in London, Italy and Israel.
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Grand prize winner of the 2001 Vriendenkrans Competition in Amsterdam, Canadian cellist Rachel Mercer made her European recital debut in the Concertgebouw Kleine Zaal. Rachel has performed as a soloist across Canada, in the United States, Europe, the Balkans, South Africa and Israel, including appearances with the Toronto Symphony, National Arts Centre, Durban, and Banff Festival orchestras.
Rachel was a member of the Metro String Quartet from 1994-2000 and joined the Aviv Quartet in 2002. She is also principal cellist of Via Salzburg, a chamber series led by Mayumi Seiler in Toronto.
Rachel began cello studies at the age of three in Edmonton, Alberta. She received degrees from the University of Toronto with Shauna Rolston, the New England Conservatory with Laurence Lesser, and a solo diploma from the Conservatorium van Amsterdam with Dmitri Ferschtman.
Rachel has been supported by the Ontario Arts Council and plays the 1824 McConnell Nicolaus Gagliano cello generously on loan from the Canada Council for the Arts.
The founders of the Aviv String Quartet - Evgenia Epshtein, Shuli Waterman, Iris Jortner, and Sergey Ostrovsky (left to right)
