Yanni
Yanni is a Greek-American composer and keyboardist known for instrumental music that blends orchestral, electronic, and world-music influences.
Live at the Acropolis: A 1994 concert film and live album documenting Yanni's performance at the Odeon of Herodes Atticus in Athens. This landmark recording brought his orchestral concert style to a global television audience.
Keyboard instrument: A musical instrument played by pressing keys that trigger sounds or control sound-producing mechanisms. Keyboards are Yanni's central performance instruments and a source of his electronic textures.
Linda Evans: An American actress who presented Yanni's 1990s concert television specials. Her association with the Acropolis special helped frame his concerts for television audiences.
Kalamata: A city in the southern Greek region of the Peloponnese, on the Messenian Gulf. Yanni was born in Kalamata and spent his early years in Greece.
Traditional Greek music: Music rooted in Greece's regional traditions, instruments, dances, and historical influences. Yanni draws on Greek identity while working mainly in a contemporary, internationally marketed style.
Yanni Live at the Taj Mahal: A 1997 concert film and album recorded at the Taj Mahal in India. It extended his site-specific concert series to a world-famous monument.
Synthesizer: An electronic instrument that generates or processes sound using oscillators, filters, and other circuits or software. Synthesizers supply the sustained tones and timbres characteristic of his arrangements.
Shahrdad Rohani: An Iranian-American conductor, composer, and violinist who has worked in orchestral music and film. He conducted the orchestra for Yanni's concert at the Acropolis.
University of Minnesota: A public research university system based in Minnesota, with its flagship campus in Minneapolis and Saint Paul. He studied psychology there after moving to the United States.
Classical music: A broad tradition of Western art music spanning centuries of composition and performance. His orchestral sound borrows scale and instrumentation without following classical music's usual forms.