Rinat Avisar

Born in Israel (1976). Rinat began playing the contrabass at the age of 14 with Michael Klingopher. She graduated from the Thelma Yellin High School of the Arts and obtained her Bachelor’s degree at the Hebrew University and the Music Academy of Jerusalem. Rinat’s military service was as an outstanding musician in the Chamber ensemble of the Education Corps of the Israeli Defense Force.

At the beginning of her career, Rinat played with the Youth Israeli Philharmonic Orchestra, the Berlin Youth Philharmonic Orchestra, The Nations Philharmonic Orchestra among others. Avisar won the Zvi Rothenberg Strings contest, the Braun-Roger-Zigel contest in Jerusalem and the America-Israel Cultural Fund scholarship in 1993. She got her Masters degree in Berlin at the UDK, with Prof. Michel Wolf. During her stay in Germany she played with the Deutcher Symphony Orchestra, the Radio Orchestra of Hamburg (Nord Deutcher Rundfunk Orchester) and in Chamber Ensembles of ‘Vila Musica’. Avisar gave recitals in Berlin and Israel and participated in international festivals in Zwitzerland, England, Germany and the USA. Currently she is the principal contrabassist in the Israel Kibbutz Chamber Orchestra, is a member of the Tel Aviv Soloist Ensemble and the Tel Aviv Art Ensemble and the tango quartet "Pitango"

Review: "Tantalizing Tango"
from the Jerusalem Post

Tango Sin Fronteras (Tango Without Borders) - a music and dance production - combines the sensual spice of eight Latin American dancers with such distinctly Israeli sounds as the Pitango Quartet and singer Shlomo Idov. Argentinean choreographer Ricardo Calvo directs a group of eight dancers in an intense performance as the Pitango Quartet (violin, contrabass, piano and bandonean) accompanies their movements with a Latin sound.

"We play energetic and passionate tango music with fresh interpretations, as well as 'tango-spirited' classical music and popular Israeli songs," says Rinat Avisar, one of the founding members of the quartet and its contrabass player. "It's a unique show because it combines Spanish Argentinean culture with the sound of a well-loved Israeli singer."

Since its inception at the beginning of 2003 by four Israeli classical musicians, the Pitango Quartet has performed in concert halls, festivals, dance competitions and private shows, including an appearance at the Israel Festival in 2005 with the show, Tango Sin Fronteras. They accompany milongas in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv on a regular basis, and have toured the world from Madrid to New York, Argentina to Istanbul, and Mexico to Finland. They have also recorded two CDs and appeared several times on Israeli television.

Hear Rinat Avisar and the Pitango Quartet play Astor Piazzolla's "Kicho"

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