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Biography
other uses|Yannis (disambiguation)Use mdy dates|date=August 2011Infobox musical artist | name = Yanni| image = YanniPressPhoto.jpg| caption =Yanni Press Photo|| background = non_vocal_instrumentalist| birth_name = Yiànnis Hrysomàllis| birth_date = Birth date and age|1954|11|14|mf=y| death_date =| origin = Kalamata, Greece | instrument = Piano, keyboard| genre = Instrumental , New Age music|New Age , Contemporary classical music|contemporary classical , Crossover (music)|crossover | occupation = Composer, pianist| years_active = 1980–present| label = Private Music / Windham Hill Records|Windham Hill / Bertelsmann Music Group|BMG Virgin Records|Virgin / EMI Image Entertainment Yanni Wake/Disney Pearl Series| associated_acts = Chameleon (American band)|Chameleon | website = URL| http://www.yanni.com| notable_instruments = Piano, synthesizer, keyboard Yanni (pronounced IPA-en|'j??ni|respell|YAH|nee), born Yiannis Hrysomallis (pronounced IPA-en|kri?so?'m??li?s|respell|kree-soh|MAH|leess;citation needed|date=May 2011Lang-el|G?????? ???s?µ????? Giannis Chrysomallis ) (born November 14, 1954) is a Greek people|Greek self-taught pianist, keyboardist, and composer who has spent most of his life in the United States .
He earned Grammy nominations for his 1992 album, Dare to Dream (Yanni album)|Dare to Dream , and the 1993 follow-up, In My Time . His breakthrough success came with the 1994 release of Yanni Live at the Acropolis , deemed to be the second best-selling music video of all time.cite web |url= http://www.yanni.com/presskit/yannicareerhighlights.pdf |title= Yanni Career Highlights|publisher=yanni.com|accessdate=December 21, 2006 |format= PDF |archiveurl = http://web.archive.org/web/20080228203140/ http://www.yanni.com/presskit/yannicareerhighlights.pdf |archivedate = February 28, 2008Better source|date=December 2009 Yanni has since performed live in concert before in excess of two million people in more than 20 countries around the world. He has accumulated more than 35 platinum and gold albums globally, with sales totaling over 20& nbsp;million copies. Yanni is considered to be one of the top fundraisers of all time for public television. His compositions have been included in all Olympic Games television broadcasts since 1988, and his music has been used extensively in television and televised sporting events. His music is frequently described as " New Age music|new age ", though he prefers the term "contemporary instrumental".
Biography
Early life
Yanni was born on November 14, 1954, in Kalamata , Greece , and began his career by giving recitals for family members though he had no formal training and could not read musical notes. He was also a competitive swimmer in Greece and set a national record in the 50-meter freestyle competition at the age of 14.cite web|last=Deming |first=Mark |url=Allmusic|class=artist |id=p2850 |pure_url=yes |title=Yanni |publisher=AllMusic |date=November 14, 1954 |accessdate=July 8, 2011 At the age of 18, he attended the University of Minnesota . http://www.yanni.com/bio/ Yanni.com biography. Retrieved June 13, 2011 As a student, Yanni joined an upcoming local group called Chameleon (American band)|Chameleon where he met drummer Charlie Adams (drummer)|Charlie Adams .cite book|last = Yanni | coauthors = Rensin, David|title = Yanni in Words|publisher= Miramax Books |year = 2002|isbn =1-4013-5194-8 | accessdate =April 3, 2007 Chameleon earned some modest commercial success touring throughout the Midwest, particularly in the states of Minnesota , Iowa , Wisconsin , Illinois and South Dakota . After receiving a B.A. in psychology in 1976, he sought a life in music. He moved to Los Angeles, in pursuit of movie soundtrack work. In 1987 he put together a small band which included John Tesh and Charlie Adams , and began touring to promote his earliest instrumental albums, Keys to Imagination , Out of Silence , and Chameleon Days .
1990s
Dare to Dream (Yanni album)|Dare to Dream was released in 1992. It was Yanni’s first Grammy -nominated album and featured "Aria", a song based on The Flower Duet and popularized by an award-winning British Airways commercial. A second Grammy -nominated album, In My Time , was released in 1993. His music has been used extensively in television and televised sporting events, including the Super Bowl , Wide World of Sports (U.S. TV series)|Wide World of Sports , U.S. Open (tennis)|U.S. Open , Tour de France , World Figure Skating Championships , The Olympics , and ABC News .cite web|url= http://www.charlieadams.org/about.html|title=Charlie Adams Official bio|publisher=charlieadams.org|accessdate=August 17, 2007
Yanni's breakthrough commercial success came with the release of his album and video, Yanni Live at the Acropolis , filmed on September 23, 1993 at the 2,000-year-old Herod Atticus Theater in Athens, Greece ,cite album-notes |title= Yanni Live at the Acropolis|bandname=Yanni |year=1994|format= CD liner|publisher= Private Music |publisherid= and released in 1994. This was Yanni’s first live album and utilized a full orchestra under the supervision of the Iranian peoples|Iranian conductor, Shahrdad Rohani , in addition to his core band. Subsequently, the concert was broadcast in the US on Public Broadcasting Service|PBS and quickly became one of their most popular programs ever, having been seen in 65 countries by half a billion people.cite web |url= http://www.windham.com/artists/artist.jsp? id=111433#bio |title= Windham Hill |accessdate=January 1, 2007 |archiveurl = http://web.archive.org/web/20061109082713/ http://www.windham.com/artists/artist.jsp? id=111433#bio |archivedate = November 9, 2006 It has almost continuously remained on the charts since its release and is the second best-selling music video of all time, selling more than 7 million copies worldwide, A composition from this album, "Acroyali/Standing in Motion", was determined to have the " Mozart Effect ," by the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine because it is similar to Sonata for Two Pianos in D major (Mozart)|Mozart's K 448 in tempo, structure, melodic and harmonic consonance and predictability.cite web |url= http://www.epilepsy.org.uk/info/mozart.html |title= The Mozart Effect|publisher=epilepsy.org|accessdate=August 7, 2007 cite book|last = Yanni | coauthors = Rensin, David|title = Yanni in Words|publisher= Miramax Books |year = 2002|page = 67|isbn =1-4013-5194-8 | accessdate =April 3, 2007 He has appeared on several major PBS Pledge TV Specials such as A Decade Of Excellence , including segments from Yanni Live at the Acropolis|Live at the Acropolis , Tribute (Yanni album)|Tribute , and Yanni Live at Royal Albert Hall|Live at Royal Albert Hall , London.
In March 1997, Yanni became one of the few Western artists permitted to perform and record at the Taj Mahal in India. Later that year he performed at the Forbidden City in China. From these two events he created his next live album and video, Tribute (Yanni album)|Tribute , which was released in 1997. Armen Anassian , Conductor, concedes that he had some doubts about the artist's plans to perform at India's Taj Mahal and China's Forbidden City for Tribute : "To be honest, a few years ago when he was talking about it, the idea was so amazing. I myself was very skeptical, understandably so. But the truth is, it happened. We did it."cite web |url= http://www.serve.com/gregl7/armen.htm |title=Interview with Armen Anassian from the Toledo Blade |publisher=serve.com |accessdate=November 14, 2007 |date=February 1, 1998 Anassian describes Yanni as "very optimistic" and has observed that "nothing really fazes him." That outlook carries over naturally to his music. "I don't think it's a goal, per se. He's very honest with his own feelings. His music really comes from the heart. He writes music with ease, the music comes out with relative ease. The feel-good portion of the music is a by-product. It coincides with what the people love to hear." Lighting Designers Lee Rose and David "Gurn" Kaniski received an Emmy nomination for "Outstanding Individual Achievement in Lighting Direction (Electronic) for a Drama Series, Variety Series, Miniseries or a Special" for both Live at the Acropolis and Tribute .
2000s
In 2000, after a two-year sabbatical, Yanni released his first studio album in seven years: If I Could Tell You .
Yanni toured in 2003 and 2004 following the debut of the Ethnicity (Yanni album)|Ethnicity album, extending his "One World, One People" philosophy. This album sparked what would become the fourth largest concert tour of the year ranked by Billboard Magazine . During an early stop on the tour, in Miami, Florida , he played The Star-Spangled Banner before Game 5 of the 2003 World Series , played at Dolphin (now Sun Life Stadium|Sun Life) Stadium .
On May 6, 2004, the University of Minnesota conferred upon Yanni the honorary degree of Doctor of Humane Letters .
He kicked off his 2004–2005 "Yanni Live!" tour at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas, Nevada|Las Vegas , Nevada, and his next live album and video, Yanni Live& #33; The Concert Event was released in 2006.
In 2008, in collaboration with producer Ric Wake , Yanni showcased vocal artists singing his songs on the album Yanni Voices . On March 24, 2009, Disney Pearl Imprint released Yanni Voices , the artist's first studio album in six years, and its Buena Vista Concerts division produced the tour that began in April 2009.cite news|url= http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/news/article_display.jsp? vnu_content_id=1003891309|last=Cohen|first=Jonathan|title = Yanni Brings 'Voices' To Disney|publisher=Billboard Magazine (billboard.com)|date = November 14, 2008|accessdate =November 16, 2008
2010s
The Yanni Live in South America tour included September 2010 performances in Santiago, Chile , Buenos Aires|Buenos Aires, Argentina , and Sao Paulo, Brazil|Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro|Rio de Janeiro, Brazil , and a November 2010 performance in Hato Rey, Puerto Rico .Craveiro, Rodrigo, http://www.correiobraziliense.com.br/app/noticia182/2010/09/23/diversaoearte,i=214327/EM+SHOW+EM+SAO+PAULO+PIANISTA+YANNI+FEZ+PASSEIO+POR+SUCESSOS+DA+CARREIRA.shtml "Em show em São Paulo, pianista Yanni fez passeio por sucessos da carreira" (In a Sao Paulo show, pianist Yanni goes for the success of a career), Correio Braziliense, published September 23, 2010 ( http://www.webcitation.org/5szFUWx7o WebCite archive), mentions vocalists Lisa Lavie and Ann McCormack (distinct from the Yanni Voices vocalists). See also WebCite archives of http://www.webcitation.org/5u7rtRSmK Yanni.com's "Artists" page (archived 2010-11-09) and http://www.webcitation.org/5sgyV2E7M tour schedule (archived 2010-09-12). Vocalists Lisa Lavie and http://yannicommunity.com/forum/topics/meet-our-newest-addition Lauren Jelencovich ( http://www.webcitation.org/5uLZMdxhI website moderator archive) performed in the Puerto Rico show and the subsequent tour of Mexico, Canada, the U.S., Eastern Europe and Asia ( http://www.webcitation.org/5w3Q6HII4 "Artists" page archive of January 27, 2011). Performances in Mexico (January 2011) and Panama (February 2011) were followed by a 43-stop tour of Canada and the United States. WebCite archives of tour http://www.webcitation.org/5ucHwXXUX (2010-11-29, includes Mexico), http://www.webcitation.org/5wM8uWBkb (2011-02-08, includes Panama), and http://www.webcitation.org/5xM7zwOWh (2011-03-21, includes update for Canada and U.S.). In September-November 2011, Yanni toured fifteen stops in Eastern Europe and Asia.September 2011 WebCite archives of Yanni's http://www.webcitation.org/61eao7Gc4 tour itinerary and http://www.webcitation.org/61htibe4j artist listing. Early review, specifying performers: http://sheblogs.121.ro/firu-n_4/atitudini-despre-mine/2011/09/yanni-la-bucuresti-sau-cum-visele-pot-deveni-realitate/ "Yanni la Bucuresti sau cum viseli pot deveni realitate" (Yanni in Bucharest, or how dreams can become reality) ( http://www.webcitation.org/61ioEdO2F WebCite archive), http://www.webcitation.org/61o5pqnzQ featured articles of http://121.ro/index.php 121.ro (Romania), September 15, 2011. The 2010-2011 tours included new vocalists, distinct from the 2008–2009 Yanni Voices vocalists.
The album Yanni Mexicanisimo , released in October 2010, was dedicated as a tribute to Mexico, a combination of Mexican music with Yanni’s style.cite news|url= http://lanval.com/news/? p=1480|title =Yanni Mexicanisimo – Mexican music with Yanni’s style|publisher=lanval.com|date = September 3, 2010|accessdate =September 19, 2010
Yanni released the album, Truth of Touch , early in February 2011.
Honors
Yanni has been permitted to perform at such world landmarks as the Athens Herodion Theatre of the Acropolis of Athens (Greece), the Taj Mahal (Agra, India), the Forbidden City (Beijing, China), the Burj Khalifa (the world's tallest building; Dubai, United Arab Emirates),Rai, Bindu Suresh, http://www.emirates247.com/entertainment/burj-khalifa-yanni-s-next-landmark-concert-venue-2011-09-21-1.419845 "Burj Khalifa: Yanni's next landmark concert venue" ( http://www.webcitation.org/62PycSAKA WebCite archive), Emirates 24/7 , September 21, 2011. Moscow Kremlin|the Kremlin (Moscow, Russia), http://www.pollstar.com/event/1756542& source=psvenue "Kremlin Palace / Tuesday, Nov. 01, 2011" ( http://www.webcitation.org/640xQbqGV WebCite archive), pollstar.com. http://www.bandsintown.com/event/4655040 "Yanni live in Moscow, Russian Federation" ( http://www.webcitation.org/640xo7SHe WebCite archive), bandsintown.com. and the Castillo San Felipe del Morro (Fort San Felipe del Morro) (UNESCO Heritage Site, in San Juan, Puerto Rico). http://www.fltimes.com/out_and_about/article_7688092c-24dd-11e1-a7e5-0019bb2963f4.html "Yanni to play at CMAC in June" ( http://www.webcitation.org/640ywFHWG WebCite archive), Finger Lakes Times, December 12, 2011. http://www.primerahora.com/mananainiciaventadeboletosparaconciertodeyannienelmorro-556592.html "Mañana inicia venta de boletos para concierto de Yanni en El Morro" (Tomorrow begins concert tickets sales for Yanni in El Morro) ( http://www.webcitation.org/6411cQyoB WebCite archive), Primera Hora (Puerto Rico)|PrimeraHora , September 23, 2011.
During Yanni's October 2011 tour of China, Yanni became the first Western world|Western artist to be invited to adopt a giant panda (bear) at the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding , a "privilege... usually reserved for country|countries rather than celebrity|personalities ."Davidson, Mike (reporting), http://in.reuters.com/video/2011/10/12/greek-musician-yanni-adopts-panda? videoId=222472340 "Greek musician Yanni adopts panda." ( http://www.webcitation.org/62Ptl4lDv WebCite archive--video on left; click on "(Transcript)" on right), Reuters , October 12, 2011. "Officials from the research base invited the musician to adopt the animal, saying their decision was made from the inspiration and harmony that derives from his music." http://www.skynews.com.au/showbiz/article.aspx? id=672190 "Greek musician Yanni adopts panda" ( http://www.webcitation.org/62PsyayUB WebCite archive), Sky News Australia , October 12, 2011. Yanni named the panda "Santorini," also the name of a Santorini|Greek island , explaining that the Greek word irini means 'peace'."
Autobiography
Yanni's autobiography, Yanni in Words , co-authored by David Rensin and Brendan Rossi, was released in February 2003. It is a memoir which includes information about his early childhood in Greece, his college years in Minnesota , his success as an international music artist with his exploration into the creative process by which he composes, and his nine-year relationship with actress Linda Evans . The book coincided with the release of his 13th album Ethnicity (Yanni album)|Ethnicity and was a New York Times Best Seller list| New York Times best seller .
Discography
listen| filename = Standing in Motion.ogg | title = Acroyali/Standing in Motion | description = This composition from the album Yanni Live at the Acropolis was determined to have the " Mozart Effect ", by the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine because it was similar to Sonata for Two Pianos in D major (Mozart)|Mozart's K 448 in tempo, structure, melodic and harmonic consonance and predictability. | format = Ogg listen| filename = Yanni Santorini.ogg | title = "Santorini" | description = from the album Yanni Live at the Acropolis | format = Ogg | filename2 = Yanni In the Morning Light.ogg | title2 = "In the Morning Light" | description2 = from the album In My Time | format2 = Ogg | filename3 = Yanni Tribute.ogg | title3 = "Tribute" | description3 = from the album Tribute (Yanni album)|Tribute | format3 = Ogg | filename4 = Yanni The End of August.ogg | title4 = "The End of August" | description4 = from the album In My Time | format4 = Ogg | filename5 = Yanni Nostalgia.ogg | title5 = "Nostalgia" | description5 = from the album Yanni Live at the Acropolis | format5 = Ogg
Studio albums
Main|Yanni discography
1984 Optimystique
1986 Keys to Imagination
1987 Out of Silence
1988 Chameleon Days
1989 Niki Nana
1990 Reflections of Passion
1991 In Celebration of Life
1992 Dare to Dream (Yanni album)|Dare to Dream
1993 In My Time
2000 If I Could Tell You
2003 Ethnicity (Yanni album)|Ethnicity
2009 Yanni Voices and Yanni Voces (Spanish Version)
2010 Yanni Mexicanisimo
2011 Truth of Touch
Concert tours
1987: Out of Silence
1988: Chameleon Days
1990: Reflections of Passion
1991: In Celebration of Life|Revolution in Sound
1992: Dare to Dream (Yanni album)|Dare to Dream
1993: In My Time|Yanni Live, The Symphony Concerts 1993
1994: Yanni Live at the Acropolis|Yanni Live, The Symphony Concerts 1994
1995: Yanni Live at Royal Albert Hall|Yanni Live, The Symphony Concerts 1995
1997: Tribute (Yanni album)|Tribute
2003–4: Ethnicity (Yanni album)|Ethnicity
2004–5: Yanni Live& #33; The Concert Event|Yanni Live!
2008–9: Yanni Voices
2010: Yanni Live in South America
2010: "Yanni Live in San Juan, Puerto Rico" November
2011: Yanni Live in Eastern Europe and Asia
2011: "Yanni Live at El Morro, San Juan, Puerto Rico" December
References
Unreliable sources|date=December 2009reflist | 2
External links
wikiquote
http://weibo.com/yanniclub Yanni blog
Official website| http://www.yanni.com/
YouTube channel|yannivideos
Allmusic|class=artist|id=p2850|label=Yanni
discogs artist|artist=Yanni (2)
imdb name|id=0946183|name=Yanni
http://www.yanni.com/member/international.aspx Yanni.com International affiliates
Yanni Persondata | NAME =Yanni | ALTERNATIVE NAMES = | SHORT DESCRIPTION = greek musician | DATE OF BIRTH =1954-11-14 | PLACE OF BIRTH = | DATE OF DEATH = | PLACE OF DEATH = DEFAULTSORT:Yanni Category:1954 births Category:Living people Category:People from Kalamata Category:Composers for piano Category:Greek composers Category:Greek emigrants to the United States Category:Greek pianists Category:Greek keyboardists Category:Greek swimmers Category:Naturalized citizens of the United States Category:New Age pianists Category:Pop pianists Category:University of Minnesota alumni Category:Private Music artists Category:Virgin Records artists
