For the last two and half years I have been performing with MandolinARTE, the Plucked Strings Orchestra of Athens, playing Mandola and Mandocello. MandolinARTE is a great orchestra, which is having a big impact in the Greek music scene and is making the mandolin popular again in Greece.

One of the greatest activities of MandolinARTE is the cooperation with the famous and beloved Greek singer Alkistis Protopsalti, which resulted to a series of sold-out concerts in the Athens Concert Hall, the most prestigious concert hall in Greece that can accommodate an audience of 1600 people. More about these concerts will follow, but for the time being enjoy a video from a rehearsal of MandolinARTE with Alkistis Protopsalti.

In this video, we rehearse the great Greek song “Lava”, and the video was recorded and aired by Greek National TV.

More about MandolinARTE

Mandolinarte was formed as the Plectrum Strings Orchestra of Athens in 1994. The repertoire includes classical music works for the mandolin from A. Vivaldi, L.V. Beethoven, J. Kuwahara, C. Wolki, R. Calace, D. Nikolaou etc. but also arrangements for the mandolin on works from J. S. Bach, W. A. Mozart, J. Brahms, A. Piazzola, N. Rota, G. Rossini, G. Verdi, M. Hatjidaki etc.

The Orchestra has numerous performances in Greece, in theatres like Peiraous Municipality Theater, Holargos Municipality Theater, sites like Marathonas, Sounio, Acropolis, Plaka and various festivals but has also been invited to perform abroad.

The members of the orchestra are well known musicians that are active artistically, giving recitals in Greece and abroad, performing with Symphonic Orchestras, participating in various recording productions and cooperating with artists from the Greek and International repertoire. As members of the Classical Mandolin Orchestra of Athens they were awarded the 1st prize in the International Competition of Plectrum Instruments in Julich Koslar in Germany at 1998, under the direction of Michalis Veidirlis.

Mandolinarte vision is to present the mandolin as a soloist instrument and the mandolin orchestra as an independent stand-alone orchestra with unique repertoire and sound.

More about Alkistis Protopsalti