Press
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"Ravel's Tzigane was executed wth razor-sharp precision, bold fluency, and artistic delivery of all the pizzicatos and harmonics."
The Greek Review
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"One high point followed by another... a brilliant violin solo by Adonis Alvanis."
Cinemusic (Stefan Schmidl)
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"Giant of the Skies features a tragic almost Hermannesque theme, beautifully rendered on solo violin."
Music from the Movies (Paul Place)
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"Ivor Novello nominated for the music for Fiona's Story, Ben Bartlett utilised the exquisite playing of solo violinist Adonis Alvanis, accompanied by some of the UK's finest string players."
UK Film & Music
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"The music of Adonis Alvanis occupies a unique space in the spectrum of concert music of our time. The four original works presented here span across Alvanis' output, yet at the same time reinforce that singular space. Alvanis plays with our sense of time. He leaps us through it, stops us in our tracks, sometimes leaning on us with a promise and sometimes stopping the clock entirely. The silences become as emotionally charged as the utterances. Brief moments can seem to echo far beyond their lifetime, while dense clusters of activity leave us standing in a daze."
Ben Bartlett, BAFTA-Winning, Ivor Novello, Emmy & RTS nominated Composer
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"Adonis Alvanis' virtuoso arrangement of Liszt's Hungarian Rhapsody No.2 takes us closer to the source of its well-known melodies, conjuring up the unique sound world of a gipsy fiddler. Alvanis manages to transform the intensely pianistic original into an effective vehicle for violin and keyboard, transferring the piano fireworks to the violin in a manner that seems natural and convincing. Joseph Joachim, the great violinist and contemporary of Liszt to whom Alvanis owes his pedigree as an instrumentalist, would surely have been impressed."
James Reel, Music Editor, Fanfare Magazine
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"An encore followed, one new to the audience. Unaccompanied, the slim violinist stood rigidly while one finger plucked a solitary string solemly and in deliberate, slow tempo. As this continued, she slowly drew her bow across other strings, releasing a series of single plaintive notes. Time seemed to stand still. After a lyrical interlude, the beginning pattern returned to conclude this memorable encore: Praeludium, written in 2001 by the violinist-composer Adonis Alvanis. Yoshida admitted later that it's a particular favourite of hers. Hopefully it will appear in a recording by this radiant and gifted violinist."
The News-Times, USA (Jim Pegolotti)
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"Adonis Alvanis has transformed Danse Macabre into a very effective recital piece. His changes make the piano part more harmonically and motivically interesting, while the technical wizardry of the violin part enhances the theatrical elements in the music. Aside from the eerie beauty (thanks to the use of harmonics) after the fugato, this version is less tethered to the lilt and lyricism of the original song; it's more dramatic and colourful in its effects, akin to the witches' Sabbath that concludes Berlioz's Symphonie Fantastique."
James Reel, Contributing Editor, Strings Magazine
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"From the sul ponticello tritone entry, an interval which is repeated and developed to an almost obsessive degree, Diabolus abounds in dramatic contrasts of dynamics, timbre and sonority."
The Strad Magazine (Harriet Smith)