Avi Avital

Avital's recording debut, a collection of sonatas and concertos entitled Bach, was released on June 12, 2012.

Avital purposely set out to improve the mandolin's place in the world. He has done well for the instrument, playing his mandolin in Carnegie Hall and looks at that accomplishment as evidence for a renaissance for the mandolin, of its increasing prominence in classical music. He was also the first mandolinist to be signed to the label Deutsche Grammophon, in 2012. As of the fall of 2016, he added approximately 90 new mandolin pieces to the mandolin's repertoire.

Avital has performed at Carnegie Hall and the Lincoln Center in New York, the National Centre for the Performing Arts and the Forbidden City Concert Hall in Beijing, and the Berlin Philharmonie, and has performed with a number of international orchestras and chamber groups. In 2011, he performed throughout Australia with the Australian Brandenburg Orchestra, and again in 2016, with performances in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane. In 2013, he performed on a tour with the Geneva Camerata. In addition to the Grammy nomination, he has won Israel's Aviv Competition and received Germany's ECHO Prize.

Avi Avital (Hebrew: אבי אביטל, born 19 October 1978) is an Israeli mandolinist. He is best known for his renditions of well-known Baroque and folk music, much of which was originally written for other instruments. He has been nominated for a Grammy award (Best Instrumental Soloist with Ensemble) and in 2013 signed a record agreement with Deutsche Grammophon.

Avital continues a tradition of virtuosic mandolin players that has brought the classical-music mandolin to public attention. Largely dormant as a group since the 1920s, talented players are again getting attention for doing new things with the mandolin, including Italians Carlo Aonzo and Mauro Squillante, Americans Chris Thile, Joseph Brent and Mike Marshall, and Israelis Avi Avital, Tom Cohen, Jacob Reuven and Alon Sariel.