Yuval Avital

Yuval Avital (born in Jerusalem in 1977) is a composer, multimedia artist and guitarist known for his creations for large-scale compositions for numerous performers, multimedia contemporary operas involving indigenous cultures and collaborations with scientific institute such as NASA. In 2016 his icon-sonic opera Fuga Perpetua received the sponsorship of the UNHCR.
Biography.
Born in Jerusalem in 1977 and living in Milan, composer, multimedia artist and guitar player Yuval Avital develops his works in a variety of spaces, including public venues, industrial archaeological sites, theatres and museums, challenging the traditional crystallized categories that separate the arts.
His wide-ranging career includes the realization of monographic exhibitions, massive sonic works, sound and video installations of vast dimensions, collective performances involving sound masses in the creation of contemporary rituals, icon-sonic operas and artworks, complex multimedia frameworks, technological projects with the participation of scientists and usage of artificial intelligence, and compositions for soloists, choirs, orchestras and ensembles involving, sometimes, traditional masters of ancient cultures, dancers, performers and non-musicians.
Works.
Avital’s sound and visual artworks have been presented in museums, art foundations, venues and art events such as MANIFESTA Biennial, GAM - Torino, ; OSTRALE Dresden Biennial, La Fabbrica del Cioccolato Foundation in Switzerland, Saint Antoine Church Istanbul, Marino Marini Museum in Florence; National Science and Technology Museum “Leonardo da Vinci” in Milan.
He is the author of large-scale Installations such as ALMA MATER - the largest sound installation in Italian history, the artwork covers an area of 1200 sqm with a “forest” of 140 loudspeakers, projections and light (Fabbrica del Vapore, Milan 2015); permanent Sound Sculptures such as THE RATTLES GARDEN - composed of fifty wrought-iron wheat-like sculptures and olive trees on which are hanged 180 bells and rattles from every part of the Mediterranean (Mulinum San Floro, Calabria) and OPEN FENCE - a massive Sound-Sculpture (biggest in Italy), of 320 tubular bells, 64 meters long and 4 meters high, playable by 80 visitors simultaneously (East End Studios, Milan).
Different works of Avital are dedicated to humanitarian issues such as his Opera Fuga Perpetua (2016) whose protagonists are refugees, which is endorsed by United Nations UNHCR; and his Opera Giobbe [Job, 2018 ] (איוב), commissioned by the Italian Government and the Italian the chairmanship of the IHRA (International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance) in occasion of the 80th anniversary of the promulgation of the racial laws, In which he connected the holocaust to the genocides which followed afterwards till today.
His latest sound and visual artwork is HUMAN SIGNS, a Global participatory online dance and voice artwork, conceived in time of COVID-19, with the participation of over 180 artists from over 47 countries presented digitally in MANIFESTA 13 Marseille as a part of Real Utopias exhibition.
Compositions for indigenous ensemble.
Works for indigenous ensembles involve contemporary music and ancient traditions, they are a big part of Avital’s creations and researches. These projects seek a dialogue between cultures that seem distant in the common perception and the enhancement of unknown traditions. They enrich the contemporary musical language by presenting exciting sonorities, diverse esthetics, new instruments and vocal styles. Hence, contemporary works with ancient traditions or indigenous ensembles bring with them a meaningful value from a social, ethical, cultural and musical point of view.
Chamber/Orchestra/Soloists.
His Operas, symphonic and chamber works were performed by numerous soloists and ensembles, presented in concert halls and festivals such as London Design Festival, Brighton Festival, Warsaw Autumn Festival, MiTo SettembreMusica Milan, Tel Aviv Museum, Opera House L.Pavarotti, Musiktheater im Revier Gelsenkirchen, RomaEuropa, National Conservatory of China, Centre Pompidou, Palazzo Reale of Milan, and Quinta da Regaleira Palace (Portugal).
Guitar.
Graduated in the Jerusalem music Academy and later a part of Angelo Gilardino soloists class, under the tutorship of M° Angelo Gilardino & M° Luigi Biscaldi, Avital performed around the world for several years. After that he has focused on creating his own original compositions and on collaborations with masters and soloists of both creative and traditional music. Avital uses elements from the tradition of stringed instruments in the Middle East, Central Asia and Far East, combined with extended techniques for classical guitar.
Collaborations.
Yuval Avital’s work is focused on the research of intercultural relations, based on dialogue as a way to show hidden symmetries and complementarity inherent in the culture. Avital’s operas try to unite, through an ideal “bridge”, non-western musical cultures, traditional artists and custodians of ancient cultures around the world. His research of new forms of musical expressions through dialogue gave birth, in 2006, to Trialogo Festival, where masters of ancient traditions, dance, jazz, classical and electric music and many other discipline meet to create a new opera or a common project.