YANNI to Bring World Tour to Blumenthal Performing Arts Center This Winter

YANNI's World Tour continues with an ALL NEW show for 2016. YANNI and his world-renowned orchestra will perform audience favorites from throughout his career as well as newly reworked arrangements of the classics. Blumenthal Performing Arts is proud to announce that YANNI will appear in concert at Belk Theater at Blumenthal Performing Arts Center Sunday, February 21, 2016, at 7 p.m. Tickets go on sale to the public Friday, August 21, at 10 a.m. and can be purchased at BlumenthalArts.org, via phone at 704-372-1000 or at the Belk Theater Box Office located at 130 N. Tryon St.

As a true global ambassador for peace, compassion, and understanding, YANNI is one of the most recognizable composers and performers of our time. He is a musical phenomenon -- a rare artist whose music transcends geographical borders and touches people of all races and nations.

YANNI has accumulated more than 40 platinum and gold albums, with international sales totaling over 25 million copies, including the 1997 double-platinum Tribute album, which sold more than a million copies within six weeks of its release, and 1994's Live at the Acropolis, which has sold more than 7.5 million copies worldwide (5 million in North America). He has also earned Grammy nominations for his 1992 album Dare to Dream, and the 1993 follow-up, In My Time.

The epic Tribute DVD, released in 1997 to commemorate Yanni's historic live performances at the Taj Mahal in India and China's Forbidden City, debuted at #2 on the Music Video charts and earned double-platinum status. Live At The Acropolis has reached an incredible six-times platinum, the second-best music video of all time (selling more than 12 million copies globally). His concerts have been broadcasted on television in more than 40 countries with upwards of 2 billion people tuning in to experience his TV specials.

For over two decades, YANNI has been one of the top global touring acts in the world entertaining over five million people. Several of his North American tours finished in the Top 10 concert tours of the year, as ranked by Performance Magazine and Pollstar. He has sold out an incredible 10 consecutive shows at the historic Radio City Music Hall in New York, opened the Burj Kahlifa in Dubai, and performed inside the Kremlin in Russia.

The universal appeal of his music has translated well as a soundtrack for major sporting events and commercial placement. YANNI's song, "Aria," was composed for an award winning British Airways commercial which still remains the most successful and longest running commercial of all time. Since 1988, his music has provided a dramatic backdrop for such iconic sporting events as the Olympic Games, the Super Bowl, Tour De France, and the PGA Golf Championships.

YANNI has continued to tour extensively throughout the world, performing sold-out concerts in Eastern Europe, the Middle East, Asia, North America and South America. His notoriety and success has allowed Yanni to engage in the many humanitarian efforts that he feels so passionately about. He continues to support children, music and education in the countries he visits. He has become a spokesperson for NASA and has entered into a first of its kind collaboration with the World Wildlife Fund, aimed at raising awareness of giant panda conservation.

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

1993 - In My Time

2000 - If I Could Tell You

2003 - Ethnicity

2009 - Yanni Voices (English)

YanniVoces (Spanish)

2010 - Mexicanisimo

2011 - Truth of Touch

2014 - Inspirato

Blumenthal Performing Arts serves the Carolinas as a leading cultural, entertainment and education provider.