AVI AVITAL

The Israeli mandolin player Avi Avital graduated from the Jerusalem Music Academy and specialised at the Padua Conservatory in Italy. He has played with major orchestras, such as the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, the Rostov State Theatre Soloists, and I Pomeriggi Musicali of Milan. In 2008 Avital received the prestigious performance award from the Israeli Ministry of Culture, becoming the first mandolin player in history to achieve this recognition. He has received scholarships from the America Israel Cultural Foundation and the Italian Foreign Ministry. He has made numerous international appearances, performing in Europe, the United States and South-East Asia, and has been invited to give lectures and master-classes at the Conservatorio Verdi di Milano, Stanford University, the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis in Basel and at New York’s Juilliard School of Music.