Duet for violin and cembalo

After eight years in Europe, the Aviv String Quartet has returned to Israel.

By MAXIM REIDER
evgenia epstein 88.298 (photo credit: )
evgenia epstein 88.298
(photo credit: )
This Monday, violinist Evgenia Epstein and cembalo player Marina Minkin will perform an unusual program at the intimate Baroque Club of the Shtricker Conservatory in Tel Aviv. "We will play duos for violin and cembalo [an early piano], a rather rare combination of instruments. The program is also special: it ranges from the Baroque to our own days," says Evgenia Epstein. "For most local music lovers, I am the second violin in the Aviv Quartet. But like the rest of the ensemble, I also pursue an individual career. I play chamber music in various ensembles, [first violin] Sergey Ostrovsky performs with Israeli orchestras as a soloist, violist Shuli Waterman records with the Isai Quartet, and Canadian cellist Rachel Mercer splits her time between Tel Aviv and Toronto." After eight years abroad - first making Amsterdam and then Paris its home - the Aviv String Quartet has returned to Israel. "The situation for musicians has changed for the worse in Europe; besides, we just want to live here," says Evgenia. The ensemble keeps performing extensively both at home and throughout the world: it's scheduled to play Shostakovich quartets at London's Wigmore Hall later this month. Epstein's partner in the upcoming concert is international competition winner Marina Minkin, who studied piano and harpsichord in Israel and the US, and now divides her time between Tel Aviv and Boston, where she is a founding member and director of the Ad Libitum Ensemble. Minkin teaches harpsichord and Baroque music at the Tel Aviv Conservatory. The concert will take place at the Shtricker Conservatory music library. On Mondays, it becomes the Baroque Club, lately inaugurated along with the new Conservatory Baroque music chair. The program features pieces by Baroque composers Georg Muffat and Johann Sebastian Bach, along with contemporary composers Alfred Schnittke, Jacov Jakoulov and Walter Piston. The concert starts at Shtricker on Monday at 8:30 p.m. Reservations: (03) 546-6228.