When most people think of Grammy Awards, they think of popular music, rock and roll, and other modern movements. But they give out Grammies for classical music, as well. And this year, Avi Avital an Israeli from Be'ersheva, is up for an award in the category of “Best Soloist Performance with Orchestra,” for his performance on the mandolin. The awards will be given out on February 13 in Los Angeles.

Avital, the first mandolin soloist ever to be nominated for a classical music Grammy award, was recognized by the U.S. National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences with the nomination for his performance of fellow Israeli Avner Dorman’s Mandolin Concerto, which he recorded in 2010 together with the New York-based Metropolis Ensemble, conducted by Daniel Cyr. Avital's performance has been highly praised by music critics; David Hurwitz of Classical Today, one  of the foremost publications on classical music, says that Avital “wails away at his mandolin as if his life depended on it,” while the New York Times praised his “exquisitely sensitive playing.”

Avital, born in 1978 in Be'ersheva, studied at the Jerusalem Music Academy, and specialized in mandolin while at the Padua Conservatory. He has played with some of the world's most prestigious ensembles, including the Israeli Philharmonic Orchestra, the Rostov State Theatre Soloists, I Pomeriggi Musicali di Milano, the Ingolstadt Kammerorchester and the New York Metropolis Ensemble, and conducted by illustrious conductors as Mstislav Rostropovitch, Asher Fisch and Philippe Entremont. In 2007, he won first prize at Israel's prestigious Aviv Competition for soloists, becoming the first mandolin player in the history to receive that honor. And, unlike other Israeli artists who “make it big,” Avital has not abandoned his homeland; in 2010, he played over a dozen dates locally.

The mandolin, while not an obscure instrument, is not generally used by classical musicians; in Israel, it is most identified with Kibbutz folk songs. As a child in Be'ersheva, Avital has said in interviews, he was looking for an afterschool activity, and music interested him – and as it happened, he was a neighbor Israeli mandolin pioneer Jacob Reuven, who gave Avital an old mandolin to get him started. After high school, he joined the IDF, where he was promptly recruited for a gifted musician's program. He then enrolled part time at the Jerusalem Music Academy,  later studying in Europe, and began performing in Italy and Germany.  Since 2004, he has also performed regularly with renowned  klezmer musician Giora Feidman. Readers who want to sample Avital's work can listen to some of his work at http://aviavital.com/mp3s.