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Avi Avital releases Song of the Birds, a journey between worlds
Out today, Friday, August 8, is a phenomenal new release from mandolin virtuoso Avi Avital: Song of the Birds. The recording features the newly formed Between Worlds Ensemble, a group Avital helped assemble and curate.
The album dives deep into the folk traditions of Europe, exploring how they’ve shaped both cultural identity and the evolution of concert music. With world-class musicians fluent in both classical and folk idioms, the ensemble creates what Avital describes as “a rich genre-blending landscape” that bridges these worlds.
Focusing on three culturally diverse regions — southern Italy, Iberia, and the Black Sea — Avital and his ensemble weave “a sonic tapestry that highlights each area's unique musical heritage.”
Roots in Padua and the richness of regional culture
The seed for the idea, Avital explains, dates back to his studies in Padua.
“I moved there when I was 23 years old and I spent my 20s living in Italy. And I realized that before leaving there I just thought of Italy as this one country, one language… It was interesting for me to… realize how rich really, and nuanced is the regional culture, how much Venice and Naples are two completely different planets,” he says.
Avital notes that this variety extends far beyond Italy: “Culture and musical cultures don’t see the borders, they’re influenced and they kind of evolve… it’s wonderful to trace these influences and the things that are common and the things that are diverse in all these cultures.”
Three EPs and one album
The project first appeared as three separate EPs — one each for Italy, Iberia, and the Black Sea — before culminating in a full-length album.
I founded this ensemble [Between World Ensemble] 2 years ago. Avital explains. “I had a task… to create three different programs across the concert season… Each one… would concentrate on a specific region and would explore… taking traditional music from this region, classical music… inspired or driven by their folklore, collaborating with masters of these folk traditions.”
After touring each program, the ensemble recorded selections in Berlin. “In the process of editing… I realized that putting everything in one album is wonderful… but I wanted… to have this experience… of diving into one little world at a time,” says Avital. The EPs offered a “10–15 minute… introduction” to each theme, while the final album’s track order was chosen “just by the flow of it.”
Handpicked musicians from around the globe
Avital relished the freedom of assembling his own group: “That’s the wonderful thing of having your own ensemble. I could do whatever I want. There are no compromises.”
The 10 musicians include artists from Greece, New York, and Goa, India. “All of them… can improvise… [and] brought… a piece of their heart and of their heritage into this project,” Avital says.
Them members of the Between Worlds Ensemble are:
Avi Avital – Mandolin
Simos Papanas – Violin
Davide Dalpiaz – Violin
Jenny Anschel – Viola
Jakob Nierenz – Cello
Uxía Martínez-Botana – Double bass
Gilad Harel – Clarinet
Alex Sopp – Flute
Louise Grandjean – Harp
Itamar Doari – Percussions
Ladino songs and a personal connection
One highlight of the Iberia program is a set of Ladino songs — the traditional language of Sephardic Jews — which hold personal meaning for Avital.
He recalls a pivotal meeting with flamenco singer Marina Heredia: “She said, ‘Oh yeah, I know you are Jewish… I know one Ladino song.’… Right there she sang me the whole song… and it was just so moving to me and… such a connector… suddenly… she sings to me something from my culture.”
Heredia performs one Ladino song on the album; the remaining four instrumental pieces were reimagined by composer Jonathan Keren, who Avital says approached them as Bartók once did, creating new works from traditional melodies.
Collaboration with David Bruce
British composer David Bruce also plays a major role in the album. Avital, a longtime admirer of Bruce’s work, says, “All his music… has a very visual element to me, a very storytelling aspect to it… I said… ‘You have to be part of this.’”
One standout is Bruce’s arrangement of the Sicilian folk song Virrinedda. “It’s… an old Sicilian dialect… People who listen… will not understand… but they have to understand the story. So the task is to tell the story through music,” Avital explains.
Embracing diversity, preserving nuance
When asked what he hopes listeners will take away from the recording, Avital says:
“There are things that are universal, there are things that are so particular… for us it was an experience of embracing diversity, preserving nuance… as a connector, not as a separator… I believe there is a world where… celebrating the diversity can live at the same time with sharing… the same good values together. And this is what I hope we put in this album.”
With Song of the Birds, Avi Avital doesn’t just release a recording — he invites listeners on a journey that crosses borders, blends traditions, and speaks directly to the heart. It’s an album that dazzles with virtuosity, but what lingers is its humanity: the laughter of a Sicilian village, the haunting beauty of a Ladino melody, the fire of flamenco, and the shimmering pulse of the mandolin at its centre. Richly textured, deeply personal, and endlessly captivating, Song of the Birds is more than music — it’s a passport to worlds you’ll want to revisit again and again.