Avi Avital performs Sauli, Roustom, Kuwahara, Bach, and Bloch

The star of mandolin, Avi Avital, was another guest at the Verbier Festival 2015. At the Verbier Church he performed works by Sauli, Rustom, Kuwahara, Bach and Bloch.

As a popular mandolin performer playing on the largest stages (Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Wigmore Hall), Avi Avital uses perfect technical mastery of his instrument to give an unusual interpretation, both sensitive and powerful. As the winner of several prestigious international competitions, he performed alongside renowned orchestras and performed works of varied genres.

He considers mandolin to be a concerto instrument and not a mere folk instrument. In order to do so, he transcribes and arranges the greatest scores for his mandolin: "None of the great composers considers mandolin to be a concert instrument. Therefore they don't compose music for it. That being said, I have a solution: I can rearrange the music that I like for the mandolin. I have been doing it for thirty years."

© Alice Paley