Welcome to the official website of mandolinist & lutenist
Alon Sariel
For the past decade, mandolinist and multi-instrumentalist Alon Sariel has been breathing new life into the mandolin, inspiring critics and audiences alike with his contagious musicianship and flawless technique, which makes him today's mandolinist of the first rank. With a record of over a thousand concerts in more than 35 countries, including performances in Amsterdam’s Royal Concertgebouw, Hamburg’s Elbphilharmonie, Brazil’s Sala São Paulo or Mexico‘s Palacio de Bellas Artes, he maintains a multifaceted career as a soloist, chamber player and artistic director in diverse productions.
With Sariel’s ever-growing curiosity for different cultures and genres, various plucked instruments find their way to his hands and often - "when it clicks", as he puts it - they come to stay. In his concerts, he easily switches between those “plucked partners” to create diverse musical experiences for his audiences.
In his current recording series "Plucked Bach" (PENTATONE), Alon Sariel approaches Bach's solo music in enticing new arrangements on different mandolins and lutes, the baroque guitar, oud and baglama. For the Beethoven anniversary in 2020, he was invited by Naxos to record the composer's works for mandolin and fortepiano. With his album "Telemandolin" (Berlin Classics) Sariel has become the first mandolinist to be awarded an OPUS KLASSIK.
Alon Sariel is a goodwill ambassador for the animal welfare organization Pro Animale. In his free time, he likes to be in the nature, read or meditate.
Learn about my new project & help bring it to life!
Vienna Mandolin Stories
Plucked Bach I & II
on the PENTATONE label
stream / purchase / discover
Mandolinist Alon Sariel continues his series of Bach transcriptions with Plucked Bach II. On his first Plucked Bach album, Sariel played the Cello Suites on a wide range of plucked instruments. Yet in this new recording, he performs works for the lute, organ and violin – all performed on ‘only’ two types of mandolins. By offering a distinctive and groundbreaking interpretation of his own transcriptions and arrangements, Sariel manages to breathe new life into some very well-known works by Johann Sebastian Bach.
The iconoclast Toccata and Fugue in D Minor (BWV 565) for the organ receives a contemplative and intimate character on the mandolin. Excerpts of the Lute Suite (BWV 998) and the Violin Partita No. 3 in E Major (BWV 1006) are drawn in a whole new palette of colors. For Bach’s Violin Sonata No. 2 in A Minor (BWV 1003), Alon Sariel shows the incredible suitability of the mandolin for Bach’s music. And as an encore, you will hear his rendition of Ysaÿe’s dazzling Obsession.
Alon Sariel is one of today’s most versatile performers, known as a multi- instrumentalist in the realm of plucked strings with a growing reputation as a fascinating Bach interpreter.