MEDIA RELEASE: Grammy-nominated rock star mandolin player Avi Avital returns to Brisbane for one night only

Hi

I'm delighted to let you know that the Australian Brandenburg Orchestra is bringing mandolin rock star Avi Avital to Brisbane audiences on Tuesday 8 November. Please see the media release below for all the details, and a link to images and video.

 

Please do let me know if you're interested in arranging an advance interview with Avi, or with Australian Brandenburg Orchestra artistic director Paul Dyer.

 

Best,

Tash

MEDIA RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE


 

Grammy-nominated rock star mandolin player

Avi Avital returns to Brisbane for one night only

 

Berlin-based Israeli Avi Avital will make a triumphant return to Brisbane for one night only on 8 November to lead the Australian Brandenburg Orchestra in an adventurous exploration of the mandolin.

 

In response to overwhelming popular demand, Australian Brandenburg Orchestra artistic director Paul Dyer is proud to bring Avi Avital to Australian audiences in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane following his sell out 2014 Brandenburg debut.

 

“Avi has charisma, sparkle, sensitivity and a disarming musical depth. He holds the audience and those he shares the stage with in the palm of his hand, and then famously captures the moment in a selfie,” said Dyer.

 

“He has catapulted the mandolin into a completely different stratosphere."

 

Avital is the first mandolin player to be nominated for a classical Grammy Award and has electrified audiences throughout Israel, Europe, Australia, Asia and the Americas. Memorable performances include Royal Albert Hall, Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Berliner Philharmonie, Forbidden City in Beijing, the Philharmonie de Paris and Tonhalle Zurich.

 

From first picking up the mandolin at the age of eight in Israel, to studying the instrument in Padova, Italy, Avital continues to forge new ground for the mandolin and open the world’s ears to its potential.

 

“When I hold the mandolin, it is so much part of me, my voice. I don’t think of it as an instrument, but just an extension of myself,” Avital said.

 

Avital is a successful recording artist, recording exclusively with Deutsche Grammophon. Between Worlds was released in 2014 to critical acclaim and introduced chamber music compositions from Ernest Bloch and de Falla to traditional Bulgarian folk tunes. Other prominent recordings include Bach and Vivaldi.

 

On his last visit to Australia, Ben Nielsen from CutCommon crowned him with the likes of rock legends.

 

“Avital engages the audience like the Mick Jaggers or the Jimi Hendrix of the world, but his is a far more delicate musical proposition. Soothing, entrancing, transcendental,” Nielsen said.

 

Together with the Brandenburg musicians, audiences can expect a concert of lightness, beauty, virtuosity and romantic sonority on Tuesday 8 November at Queensland Performing Arts Centre (QPAC).

 

ENDS  

 

For more info and bookings click here.

 

For images and video, please click here.

 

Media Contact

Natasha Spong | Agency North | M: 0424 202 147 | E: nspong@agencynorth.com.au

 

Event details

Event: Australian Brandenburg Orchestra: Avi Avital

Venue: Concert Hall, Queensland Performing Arts Centre (QPAC)

Date: Tuesday 8 November

Time: 7.30pm

Duration: 2 hours (includes interval, subject to change without notice)

Tickets: $57–$97 *a booking fee of $6.95 applies per transaction

Bookings: qpac.com.au

 

About Avi Avital

The first mandolin soloist to be nominated for a classical Grammy Award, Avi Avital is one of the foremost ambassadors for his instrument. Passionate and “explosively charismatic” (New York Times) in live performance, he is a driving force behind the reinvigoration of the mandolin repertory. More than 90 contemporary compositions, 15 of them concertos, have been written for him.

 

“When I commission new pieces and engage with different musical styles, I feel that I am bringing to light new faces of this unique instrument, uncovering what is hiding there,” he says.

 

Avital’s inspired music-making has electrified audiences throughout Israel, Europe, Australia, Asia, and the Americas. Recent highlights include dates at Beijing’s National Centre for the Performing Arts, London’s Wigmore Hall and Royal Albert Hall, the Berliner Philharmonie, Tonhalle Zurich, Barcelona’s Palau de la Música Catalana, the Philharmonie de Paris, and, with a live telecast on Arte, the Palais de Versailles.

 

Born in Be’er Sheva, southern Israel in 1978, Avital began learning the mandolin at the age of eight. He later graduated from the Jerusalem Music Academy and the Conservatorio Cesare Pollini in Padua, Italy. He plays on a mandolin made by Israeli luthier Arik Kerman.

 

"Exquisitely sensitive playing”

New York Times, USA

 

“Sheer brilliance *****"

The Telegraph, UK

 

“A cool artist with pop appeal”

Spiegel, Germany

 

“Everything you never dreamt a mandolin could do... truly breathtaking in virtuosity and dedication.”

Haaretz Daily, Israel

 

“Takes the listener to the brink of wildest expectation and leaps over those boundaries.”

The Boston Musical Intelligencer, USA

 

For more info on Avi Avital click here.