AviAvital
- Mandolin


About Avi
“Here is a musician who recognises no boundaries except those of good taste, and who has the artistry to persuade listeners to follow him anywhere.” Gramophone
The first mandolin soloist to be nominated for a classical Grammy, Avi Avital has been compared to Andres Segovia for his championship of his instrument and to Jascha Heifetz for his incredible virtuosity. Passionate and “explosively charismatic” (New York Times) in live performance, he is the driving force behind the reinvigoration of the mandolin: for more than two decades he has reshaped the history and the future of his instrument, playing it in the most prestigious halls all over the world. In addition to that, Avi Avital has expanded the mandolin repertoire not only with transcriptions of various pieces, but by commissioning over 100 works for the mandolin including concertos for mandolin and orchestra by Fazil Say, Jennifer Higdon, Anna Clyne, Avner Dorman and Giovanni Sollima.
Highlights of the 2025/26 season include performances with Il Giardino Armonico, the Mozarteum Orchestra Salzburg, the Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich, the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, the Geneva Camerata, the Ensemble Resonanz, the Basel Chamber Orchestra, the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, the Fuse Ensemble, the Pacific Symphony Orchestra, and a residency with the Duisburg Philharmonic Orchestra. He will be working with conductors such as Giovanni Antonini, Alondra de la Parra, Jeanette Sorrell, Anna Rakitina and Hugo Ticciati.
Avi Avital will give recitals and chamber performances with Omer Klein, Ksenija Sidorova and the Viano Quartet, and will return to the Alte Oper Frankfurt, the Berlin Philharmonie, the Muziekgebouw Amsterdam, the Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, the Kissinger Sommer and the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival, among others.
Avi Avital’s other recent engagements include Chicago, Seattle, Toronto & Vancouver Symphony Orchestras, Orchestre symphonique de Montréal, Los Angeles Philharmonic, NDR Radiophilharmonie, Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, Academy of St Martin in the Fields, Yomiuri Nippon Symphony, Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, TonhalleOrchester Zürich, Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale della RAI, Orchestra della Svizzera italiana, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Orchestre National de Lyon, Orchestra del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, Israel Philharmonic, and the Norwegian Radio Orchestra working with conductors such as Zubin Mehta, Kent Nagano, Alan Gilbert, Robert Spano, Osmo Vänskä, Yutaka Sado, Nicholas McGegan, Omer Meir Wellber, Giovanni Antonini, Jonathan Cohen and Ton Koopman.
In 2023, Avi Avital launched his new venture, the ensemble “Between Worlds”, with a three-part residency at Boulez Saal in Berlin and concerts, that led the musicians to in Bucharest, Frankfurt, Warsaw, Hamburg, Gstaad, Ludwigshafen and Antwerp, as well as festivals like BBC Proms, Schleswig-Holstein and Enescu. The ensemble was formed to explore different genres, cultures and musical worlds focusing on different geographical regions and in its first year featured traditional, classical and folk music from the Iberian Peninsula, the Black Sea and South Italy.
Avi Avital’s versatility has led to features as “Portrait Artist” at Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival, BOZAR Brussels, Dortmund Konzerthaus and as Artist-in-Residence at the Bodensee Festival and La Jolla Music Society California. He is a regular presence at major festivals such as Aspen, Salzburg, Hollywood Bowl, Tanglewood, Ravenna, MISA Shanghai, Cheltenham, Verbier, Lucerne, Bad Kissingen, Rheingau Musik Festival, Gstaad and Tsinandali.
An exclusive Deutsche Grammophon artist, Avi Avital released his first album with his ensemble “Between Worlds” in 2025: “Song of the Birds” combines works by Manuel de Falla, Otar Taktakishvili and Fazil Say with traditional folk pieces in arrangements by David Bruce and others, and was acclaimed by audiences and critics alike. “Concertos” (2023), which he recorded with Il Giardino Armonico and Giovanni Antonini, features mandolin concertos by Vivaldi, Hummel, Bach, Barbella and Paisiello. This album won an Opus Klassik award in 2024 for “Concerto Recording of the Year”. His album “The Art of the Mandolin” (2020) has been received with high praise and top reviews in The Times, Independent, Gramophone, BBC Music Magazine as well as the international press. Previous recordings “Bach” (2019), “Avital meets Avital” (2017), “Vivaldi” (2015), an album of Avital’s own transcriptions of Bach concertos (2012) and “Between Worlds” (2014) also received numerous awards.
Born in Be’er Sheva in southern Israel, Avital began learning the mandolin at the age of eight and soon joined the flourishing mandolin youth orchestra founded and directed by his charismatic teacher, Russian-born violinist Simcha Nathanson. He studied at the Jerusalem Music Academy and the Conservatorio Cesare Pollini in Padua with Ugo Orlandi. He plays on a mandolin made by Israeli luthier Arik Kerman.
Representation
Season Highlights
Video
- Playing
Avi Avital: Avi’s Song
BBC Proms In The Park, Belfast, September 8, 2018 with the Ulster Orchestra and David Brophy, conductor Credit: BBC Northern Ireland
Avi Avital plays Bartók Romanian Folk Dances
BBC Proms In The Park, Belfast, September 8, 2018 with the Ulster Orchestra and David Brophy, conductor Credit: BBC Northern Ireland
Photos
Projects
Avi Avital: Between Worlds
“Feeling at home in places that seem foreign, even discovering parts of yourself in them, is a deeply moving idea for me. This is the heart of the Between Worlds project.” — AVI AVITAL
Learn about this projectProjects
Avi Avital: Between Worlds
“Feeling at home in places that seem foreign, even discovering parts of yourself in them, is a deeply moving idea for me. This is the heart of the Between Worlds project.” — AVI AVITAL
Learn about this project
News
Press
Fazil Says' Mandolin Concerto World Premiere
ACO Thormannhalle. Büdelsdorf, GermanyJul 2025Fazil Says' brand-new mandolin concerto was premiered by none other than Avi Avital – long one of the festival's biggest stars. After the Israeli had previously presented a flawless, spirited mandolin version of Bach's Harpsichord Concerto in D minor (BWV 1052) with the youthful, world-class ensemble under the confident direction of the young Turkish-Italian conductor Nil Venditti, a slight sense of deja vu followed: In the almost solo introduction (only gentle percussion accompanied the mandolin), Say also demonstrated a keen sense of polyphony. The second movement then becomes a wild ride, sounding a bit like Stravinsky's "Sacre du Printemps" here and there, but then shifting into a ghostly mood with a whimsical tone, above which the mandolin seems to float rhapsodically. The third movement is characterized by the solo instrument's simple melancholy, atmospherically accompanied by strings and vibraphone. The finale is dance-like and joyful, but also features exciting mood changes with beautiful introverted passages from the solo instrument. Audience reaction: boundless enthusiasm.
- Kieler Nachrichten
- 14 July 2025
Between Worlds Ensemble
Man & Culture MagazineMay 2023He’s one of the leading contemporary mandolinists in the world today. For Avi Avital, it is not simply about returning the mandolin to its rightful place within the classical music repertoire, but he’s also passionate about strengthening musical collaborations across genres.
- Sigurd Neubauer, Man & Culture Magazine
- 05 May 2023
The Artistry of Avi Avital
Roy Thomson Hall and North York’s Meridian Arts CentreMay 2023Avital’s undoubted dexterity, fingers racing up and down the fingerboard…
- Jeremy Gee, Toronto Guardian
- 03 May 2023
La Scena Musicale - Mandolin Magic
George Weston Recital Hall, TorontoApr 2023What he can do with a mandolin must be heard to be believed. He can make it sing and dance; he can make it laugh and cry. And he can put together an entire concert featuring the mandolin that is both serious and entertaining.
- Paul E. Robinson, mySCENA
- 26 April 2023
Avi Avital Profile
Mar 2023Avi Avital is on an ambitious mission: to restore the mandolin back into the classical music repertoire.
- Man & Culture Magazine
- 29 March 2023