Avi Avital & Ohad Ben Ari – Brahms zum Frühstück

Hungarian dances, piano pieces, songs a. a. (Arrangement for mandolin and piano)

Due to his acquaintance with the Hungarian violinist Eduard Reményi, Johannes Brahms was enthusiastic about Hungarian folk music all his life. From this enthusiasm, among other things, the 21 Hungarian dances for piano four hands emerged, with which Brahms occupied over a decade. To be sure, these songs and melodies are not about the reproduction of original folk music, but about art music, the formal language of which Brahms combines in a masterly manner with the typical elements of folk music. The renowned mandolinist Avi Avital moves virtuously between art and folk music and is unmatched for leading as a traveling companion from Brahms' native North Germany into the world of expression of this "exotic" music and back to Potsdam. Hungarian-Prussian breakfast included.
The first mandolin soloist to be nominated for a classical Grammy, Avi Avital is one of the foremost ambassadors for his instrument. Passionate and “explosively charismatic” (New York Times) in live performance, he is a driving force behind the reinvigoration of the mandolin repertory.
An exclusive Deutsche Grammophon artist, he has made four recordings for the label including his ECHO KlassikAward-winning Vivaldi (2015). Recently released Avital meets Avital (2017) with oud / bassist, Omer Avital, explores their shared cultural heritage and brings their differing classical and jazz musical backgrounds into dialogue. Earlier releases featured his own Bach concerto transcriptions (2012) and Between Worlds (2014), a cross-generic chamber collection exploring the nexus between classical and traditional music. He has also recorded for Naxos and SONY Classical winning a first ECHO Klassik Award for his 2008 collaboration with the David Orlowsky Trio.
Avi Avital is an alumni of AICF.


Israeli-born Ohad Ben-Ari’s career has begun with performances as a soloist with the Israeli Philharmonic Orchestra when he was merely 12 years of age. The following year, Ohad was officially enrolled as a student at the Tel-Aviv University, where he studied piano and composition. As a pianist, Ohad has won numerous top prizes at international competitions, among them the ARD and the Arthur Rubinstein Competitions.  Many of Ben-Ari’s compositions and transcriptions are performed world-wide. He frequently tours as a chamber musician with various members of the orchestra. Violins of Hope, Ben-Ari’s piece for strings was commissioned and performed by the Berliner Philharmoniker in 2015. Since 2010, Ohad Ben-Ari resides with his family in Berlin. Here, he continues his extensive work as a performer and a composer. Ben-Ari also serves as the director of the ID Festival Berlin, which he founded with the support of the German government in 2014.