AVI AVITAL

Mandolin

“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 Segovia for his championship of his instrument and to 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, with concertos by Higdon, Clyne, Dorman & Sollima. 

Highlights of the 2024/25 season include 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 & Wigmore Hall London, Philharmonie Berlin, Konzerthaus Dortmund, Alte Oper Frankfurt, Aula Magna Sapienza Rome, Amici della Musica Florence, Auditorio Nacional Madrid, City Hall Hong Kong, Orchestra Hall Minnesota & Herbst Hall San Francisco.

Other recent engagements include Chicago & 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 & Orchestre National de Lyon, working with conductors such as Mehta, Nagano, Gilbert, Vänskä, Antonini and Koopman. 

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

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

An exclusive Deutsche Grammophon artist, Avi 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.

Praised for her “clear, bright voice” (New York Times) and “artistry that belies her young years” (Kansas City Metropolis), soprano Estelí Gomez is quickly gaining recognition as a stylish interpreter of early and contemporary repertoires. In January 2014 she was awarded a GRAMMY with contemporary octet Roomful of Teeth, for best chamber music/small ensemble performance; in November 2011 she received first prize in the Canticum Gaudium International Early Music Vocal Competition in Poznan, Poland. Estelí can be heard on the soundtrack of Lena Dunham’s 2022 film Catherine, Called Birdy, Seattle Symphony’s 2017 recording of Nielsen’s Symphony No. 3, on the first track of Silkroad Ensemble’s Grammy-winning 2016 album Sing Me Home, and on Roomful of Teeth’s self-titled debut album, for which composer Caroline Shaw’s Partita was awarded the 2013 Pulitzer Prize.

Highlights of the season include recording a Spanish translation of Handel’s Messiah with Bach Collegium San Diego; the world premiere of chamber opera Dreams Have No Borders in Ashland, OR; solo appearances with Orchestra Iowa, Madison Bach Musicians, Spire Chamber Ensemble, Sheboygan Symphony, and the Early Music Latin America Festival in El Paso TX; performances at the Washington National Cathedral, Cathedral Church of the Advent Birmingham, and Epiphany Parish of Seattle; artist residencies at Avaloch Farms, University of Oregon Eugene, and UNC Greensboro; and concerts at the Barbican and Baryshnikov Arts Center, with additional tours throughout Europe, with Roomful of Teeth. Roomful’s third studio album, Rough Magic, received two GRAMMY nominations for 2024.

Estelí teaches at Lawrence University as assistant professor of voice, in addition to continuing her work as a performer. Originally from Watsonville, California, Estelí received her Bachelor of Arts with honors in music from Yale College, and Master of Music from McGill University, studying with Sanford Sylvan. She is also a proud member of Beyond Artists, a coalition of artists who donate a percentage of their concert fees to organizations they care about. She is currently donating to RAICES and the Texas Civil Rights Project.