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Avi Avital

mandolin

The first mandolin soloist to be nominated for a classical Grammy, Avi Avital has been compared to Andrés Segovia for his championship of his instrument and to Jascha Heifetz for his incredible virtuosity. The driving force behind the reinvigoration of the mandolin, he has reshaped the history and the future of his instrument. He has expanded mandolin repertoire through transcriptions and by commissioning over 100 works, including concertos by Higdon, Clyne, Dorman and Sollima. 

Highlights of the Avital’s 2024-25 season include performances with the Minnesota Orchestra, Colorado Symphony, Orchestre National des Pays de la Loire, Freiburg Barockorchester, Philharmonia Baroque, Venice Baroque and il pomo d’oro. He performs with Sebastian Wienand, Ksenija Sidorova, Omer Klein and Brooklyn Rider and returns to Cadogan and Wigmore Hall in London, the Philharmonie in Berlin, the Konzerthaus Dortmund, Alte Oper in Frankfurt, Aula Magna Sapienza in Rome, Amici della Musica in Florence, Auditorio Nacional in Madrid, City Hall Hong Kong, Orchestra Hall in Minnesota and Herbst Hall in San Francisco.

His other recent engagements include appearances with the Chicago and Vancouver symphony orchestras, Orchestre symphonique de Montréal, Los Angeles Philharmonic, NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchester, Yomiuri Nippon Symphony, Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich, Symphonie-Orchester Berlin and Orchestre National de Lyon, working with conductors such as Zubin Mehta, Kent Nagano, Alan Gilbert, Osmo Vänskä, Giovanni Antonini and Ton Koopman. 

In 2023, Avital launched the Between Worlds Ensemble with a three-part residency at Boulez Saal Berlin and other European venues. The ensemble explores different genres and musical worlds focusing on traditional, classical and folk music from the Iberian Peninsula, Black Sea and South Italy. 

Avital’s versatility has led to features as “Portrait Artist” at Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival, BOZAR Brussels, Bodensee Festival and La Jolla Music Society California. He visits regularly festivals such as Aspen, Salzburg, Hollywood Bowl, Tanglewood, MISA Shanghai, Cheltenham, Verbier, Lucerne, Bad Kissingen, Rheingau and Gstaad.

An exclusive Deutsche Grammophon artist, Avital’s seventh album Concertos, recorded with Il Giardino Armonico and Giovanni Antonini, features mandolin concertos by Vivaldi, Hummel, Bach, Barbella and Paisiello, winning a 2024 Opus Klassik award for Concerto Recording of the Year. His other albums include The Art of the Mandolin (2020), Avital meets Avital (2017) and Between Worlds (2014).

Born in Be’er Sheva in southern Israel, Avital began learning the mandolin at the age of eight, studying at Jerusalem Music Academy and Conservatorio Cesare Pollini in Padua. He plays a mandolin by Israeli luthier Arik Kerman.