ARIEL QUARTET, distinguished by its virtuosic playing and impassioned interpretations has earned its glowing international reputation. Formed in Israel nearly twenty years ago when its members were students, the Quartet was recently awarded the prestigious Cleveland Quartet Award. The Ariel serves as the Faculty Quartet-in-Residence at the University of Cincinnati’s College-Conservatory of Music, where they direct the rigorous chamber music program and perform their own annual series of concerts in addition to their busy touring schedule. The group’s 2018-19 season features performances for Calgary Pro Musica, the Kreeger Museum, and Music Toronto, among others; and on tour in Israel and Europe. The Ariel Quartet has been mentored extensively by Itzhak Perlman, Paul Katz, Donald Weilerstein, Miriam Fried, Kim Kashkashian, and Martha Strongin Katz, among others, and spent a formative year in Switzerland for in-depth studies with Walter Levin, the founding first violinist of the LaSalle Quartet.