Alon Sariel (mandolin)

Alon Sariel was born in Israel. He graduated from the Jerusalem Music Academy and specialized at the Brussels Royal Conservatory and Hochschule fur Musik Teater und Media in Hannover. During his studies at the Jerusalem Academy, he won first prize in the Chamber Music Competition, the Competition for String Instruments and the Conducting Competition. He was awarded the Audience Prize in the name of Meira Gera at the Aviv Competitions in Early Music and a special recommendation from the Jury of the Ben-Halm Competition for Contemporary Israeli Music. As a classical mandolin player, he has won top prizes at the European Mandolin Award in Greece and the Rafaelle Calace Competition in Italy. Sariel was granted study scholarships from the America-Israel Foundation during the period 2002-08. He has also received the Chais Foundation Excellence Grant, Sarni Foundation Scholarships and a special grant from the “Zfunot Tarbut” Foundation.

Recently, he has won both 1st prize at the Bloch competition and 2nd prize at the Israeli Music competition in London, which will be followed by performances with Imaestri Orchestra and the London International Orchestra together with recitals in some of London's important venues. Sariel has played solo with most of the high rank orchestras in Israel, many times also as a conductor.As a member of Daniel Barenboim's West Eastern Divan Orchestra, as well as with several other ensembles, Sariel has toured throughout Europe, the Far East, the Middle East and North America. He has lectured and conducted master classes in Israel, Europe, the USA and in prestigious schools such as Trinity College of Music, London.

Sariel has recorded for labels such as Naxos and Albany Records (USA), has played live on the BBC and the Israeli Educational TV, his playing can be heard on “Kol Hamusika” and WNYC. His Handel recording with the soprano Ania Vegry has won the German BOBBY prize.Together with other talented international students Sariel has founded the Hannover International Ensemble which is making its name as one of the attractive and interesting young ensembles in the region. Sariel regularly directs the Israeli Early Music Project, which he has founded in order to promote the Historically Informed Performance in Israel.Today, Sariel is Musical Director and Conductor of the Camerata Medica and the Jugend Symphony Orchester in Göttingen, and is teaching regularly at the Cambridge Performance Masterclasses. Next season's engagements include a concert of music by C.P.E Bach, Webern and Stockhausen with the Münich Chamber Orchestra, Mozart's Magic Flute with the Israeli Early Music Project and Copland's Appalachian Spring with the Hannover International Ensemble and the Jerusalem Dance Theater. Also, he will be assisting Maestro Roberto Gini at the Laussane Baroque Orchestra.