Ori Epstein - Cello

The youngest of 3 musical siblings, Ori began to play the cello at the age of 6. In 2002, together with his family they left Israel and relocated to London.

He has since studied with Miklós Perényi and Bernard Greenhouse and completed his degrees at the Bern University of Arts in the class of Antonio Meneses. For a period of 5 years Ori was Artist in Residence at the Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel under the guidance of Gary Hoffman.

His achievements on the cello have been recognised by a number of prizes, including the 3^rd Prize at the Bromsgrove International Competition and1^st Prize at Tunbridge Wells International Competition.

Ori is the cellist of the Busch Trio, which in recent years has developed into one of the leading piano trios. Together with his brother Omri on the piano and violinist Mathieu van Bellen, the Busch Trio has regularly appeared on major stages and festivals throughout Europe and the USA. Their many years of fruitful collaboration with the Alpha Classics label have resulted in a series of four CDs covering the complete works of Antonin Dvorák for piano and strings.

In 2016 the Busch Trio were awarded the prestigious Kersjes Prijs in the Netherlands. They have carried off several other international awards since and were winners of the 2018 Nordmetall-Ensemble Prize at the Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Festival. 

The trio have performed at London’s Wigmore Hall, Queen Elizabeth Hall, Bozar, as well as Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw and frequently appear live on NPO, France Musique, Musiq’3, WDR, NDR and Deutschlandfunk.

For Alpha Classics, Ori recorded Édouard Lalo’s Cello Concerto with Jean-Jacques Kantorow and l‘Orchestre Philharmonique Royal de Liège. In 2019 with his brother as duo partner, LINN Records published their recordings of Beethoven’s Complete Sonatas and Variations to critical acclaim.

Ori plays on an 1815 Giovanni Battista Ceruti, Cremona. Considered to be one of the best-preserved examples of Ceruti’s work – it is also thought to be the last cello made by him. It has been kindly lent to Ori by a private syndicate of sponsors.