Avi Avital and Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra

Written text adapted from “Avi Avital and Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra Juxtapose Tradition with Modern Energy at BroadStage” originally published in The Corsair.

Avi Avital dress rehearses with Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra prior to performing at BroadStage.

Grammy-nominated mandolinist Avi Avital and Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra performed a concert at BroadStage as the culmination of a Southern California tour with music by Vivaldi, Bach, Bartók and the U.S. premiere of “Concerto for Mandolin” by Italian contemporary composer Giovanni Sollima. They closed with two encores: a movement from Vivaldi’s “Summer” and Avital’s solo version of traditional Bulgarian folk song “Bučimiš.”

“I think that there should be more young people here, but there are not,” said audience member David Kagan, 46, who attended with Dylan Wordes, 37. “There’s so much intensity in these pieces. It’s modern in a lot of ways.”

Even after years of being a concert soloist, Avital said many of his audiences hear the mandolin in classical music for the first time when he walks on stage.

Avi Avital dress rehearses at BroadStage.

Avi Avital dress rehearses at BroadStage.

Avi Avital performs with Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra's violin section at BroadStage.

Avi Avital leads the violins of Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra during dress rehearsal.

Avi Avital dress rehearses with the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra.

Avi Avital performs with Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra.

Avi Avital performs "Bučimiš" as his second encore.

Chris Cockerham plays the theorbo during rehearsal with Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra.

Anthony Martin plays violin.

Cello continuo William Skeen’s cello scroll and baroque bow tip.

Violinist Lisa Grodin rehearses on baroque violin and snakewood bow. “The bounce is really different from a modern bow,” said Grodin, “because a modern bow has sort of a Mona Lisa smile on the end, and it comes up to a heavier tip at the end…These have a lightness to them. And a gracious quality…and just the huge variety of articulations that it teaches you a lot about the music itself and hopefully kind of draw the listener into it in a different way.”