Avi Avital’s performance in “Mandolin Concerto” is up for a Grammy for best instrumental performance with an orchestra. The fifteen minute piece, conducted by Avner Dorman, also Israeli, was written specifically for mandolin player Avi Avital, who performed the concerto with New York’s very own Metropolis Ensemble. Released last year on the album “Avner Dorman’s Concertos,” it is Metropolis Ensemble’s first studio album.
“I wrote it using Middle Eastern sounds and a lot of North African scales and rhythms,” said Dorman in a phone interview with the LA times.
Avi Avital, at 32 years young, is a graduate of the Jerusalem Music Academy and the Padua Conservatory. He’s making quite a name for himself as a mandolin player, with The New York Times calling his work “exquisitely sensitive playing.”
Check out a video of Avi Avital’s performance below.
Encore performance of Avner Dorman's Mandolin Concerto for Mandolin and String Ensemble (2006), performed on October 11, 2007 at the Angel Orensanz Center in New York City. Featuring Avi Avital (mandolin) and the Metropolis Ensemble led by conductor Andrew Cyr. Video by Timothy Bakland; sound by Nils van Otterloo.
