Live at the Acropolis

Live at the Acropolis is the rst live album by Yanni. It

was recorded live at the Herodes Atticus Theatre, Athens,
Greece, on September 25, 1993, and released in 1994
(see 1994 in music and 1994 in lm). The album peaked
at number 1 on Billboards Top New Age Albums chart
and at number 5 on the "Billboard 200" chart in the same
year.[1] The lm spent 229 weeks on Billboard's Top
Music Video charts and Top VHS sales charts,[2] and
received an Emmy nomination in 1994 for Outstanding Individual Achievement in Lighting Direction (Electronic) for a Drama Series, Variety Series, Miniseries or
a Special.[3]

This was Yannis rst live album and utilizes the Royal
Philharmonic Concert Orchestra under the supervision of
conductor Shahrdad Rohani, in addition to his core band.
Yanni said, Ever since I left Greece more than two decades
ago, it has been my dream to return and perform at the
Acropolis. This project took more than a year and a half
to plan and accomplish, and I would like to thank my band
and crew, and the scores of people involved in helping my
dream become a reality.[10]
In a 2004 interview, drummer Charlie Adams was asked
to point out which shows stood out in his mind in the last
25+ years of working with Yanni. Adams replied, Obviously the most exciting one for me was Live at the Acropolis. Playing in front of over 10,000 people every night,
right below the Parthenon in Athens, Greece. The thing
that made it so exciting was it was the rst time for Yanni
to be playing at home in front of his fellow Greek citizens
it made you feel warm in the heart for him. Also, I was
playing a drum solo in front of a majority of people who
did not speak English yet responded to my drums, I really
felt that the drums communicated with them, you know.
Like drumming and music is in fact an international language. A great experience that will stay with me the rest
of my life. [11]

In a three-year television deal with the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS), the live television special was one of
the top fund-raising subjects for PBS,[4] raising $13 million, with more than 750,000 home videos and more than
7 million albums sold worldwide.[5] It has been seen in
65 countries by half a billion people, and is the secondbest-selling music video of all time[6][7] (behind Michael
Jackson's video for Thriller with 9 million units).

The composition Acroyali/Standing in Motion from

this album was determined to have the "Mozart Effect" by the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine
because it was similar to Mozarts K 448 in tempo,
structure, melodic and harmonic consonance and Similarly, keyboardist Bradley Joseph recounts, When
I reect back over the years, one of the high points
predictability.[8][9]
The corresponding concert tour of the year was Yanni that stand out include performing at the Acropolis with
Yanni. Imagine all these dierent cultures coming toLive, The Symphony Concerts 1994.
gether with the challenges of language, equipment, travel,
and weather problems. I still picture the police running
their dogs through the dressing rooms to sni out any
bomb possibilities right before the show. People still
1 Performance
come up to me and comment how that show has aected
their lives.[12]

From this appearance and others with Yanni, violinist

Karen Briggs gained the title The Lady in Red.[13]

2 Critical reception
Reviewing for AllMusic, Jonathan Widran writes, Its no
surprise that Yanni is most identied with this amazingly
powerful experience (also presented as one of PBSs most
popular concerts ever), because it seems like the musical
project he was most destined to make. After making milThe Herodes Atticus Theater at the Acropolis of Athens, site of lions stateside, he returns to the historic ancient Acropolis
Yannis September 1993 breakthrough concert Live at the Acrop- of his Greek homeland to share his sweeping music with
olis, performed in his native country Greece.
his countrymen. One of the most impressive aspects of
1

FILM

Yanni in this live setting is the way his beautiful piano passages blend with the occasional boom of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (conducted by Shardad Rohani).[16]
Conversely, Robert Christgau gave the soundtrack album
a D+" grade in his consumer guide for The Village Voice,
indicating an appalling piece of pimpwork or a thoroughly botched token of sincerity, and called the performance Auent spirituality cum cornball romanticism
from a orid New Age keyboard maestro with little to
say.[15]

Album

This album peaked at #1 on "Billboards Top New Age

Albums chart and at #5 on the "Billboard 200" chart in
the same year.[1]

3.1

Track listing

3.2

RIAA certication

Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA)

Gold and Platinum database entries:[17][18]
(G=Gold, P=Platinum, M=Multi-Platinum)
YANNI LIVE AT THE ACROPOLIS 05/05/94
PRIVATE MUSIC P ALBUM SOLO Std
YANNI LIVE AT THE ACROPOLIS 05/05/94
PRIVATE MUSIC G ALBUM SOLO Std
YANNI LIVE AT THE ACROPOLIS 09/28/94
PRIVATE MUSIC M (2) ALBUM SOLO Std
YANNI LIVE AT THE ACROPOLIS 03/28/95
PRIVATE MUSIC M (3) ALBUM SOLO Std
YANNI LIVE AT THE ACROPOLIS 04/23/98
PRIVATE MUSIC M (4) ALBUM SOLO Std

Film

Yanni: Live at the Acropolis DVD cover

credited to Dietrich Juengling, Lee Rose (lighting director/designer), Richard Ocean (lighting director/designer),
and David 'Gurn' Kaniski (lighting director/designer).[3]
Katie Tamms of AllMovie writes, Before a sold-out
crowd on September 24, 1993, new age musical artist
Yanni, accompanied by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, performed the rst of three historic concerts
at the Acropolis in Athens, Greece. Himself a native
of Kalamata, Greece, Yanni had returned to perform
in his homeland after more than 20 years in America.
This video production, headed by award-winning director George Veras, includes a behind-the-scenes look at
the creation of the live video, as well as backstage interviews with Yanni and some of his musical entourage.[19]
The video was released on DVD in 1999 by Windham
Hill Records.

The lm version of Live at the Acropolis, released in 4.1 Track listing

1994, was broadcast throughout the U.S. on public tele1. Santorini
vision and was one of the top fundraising subjects for
[4]
PBS. It was seen in 65 countries by half a billion
2. Until the Last Moment
people,[4] and has almost continuously remained on the
3. Keys to Imagination
charts since its release. It is also the second best-selling
[6]
music video of all time, selling more than 7 million
4. The Rain Must Fall
copies worldwide.[7]
5. Felitsa
The video production received an Emmy nomination in
1994 for Outstanding Individual Achievement in Lighting Direction (Electronic) for a Drama Series, Variety Series, Miniseries or a Special. This accomplishment was

6. Within Attraction
7. One Mans Dream

5.1

Band

8. Marching Season
9. Nostalgia

5.1 Band
Charlie Adams drums

10. Acroyali/Standing in Motion (Medley)"

Karen Briggs violin

11. Aria

Michael Kalani Bruno percussion

12. Reections of Passion

Ric Fierabracci bass guitar

13. Swept Away

Julie Homi keyboards

14. The End of August

Bradley Joseph keyboards

4.2

RIAA certication

Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA)

Gold and Platinum database entries:[17]
(G=Gold, P=Platinum, M=Multi-Platinum)
YANNI LIVE AT THE ACROPOLIS 05/05/94
PRIVATE MUSIC P VIDEO LONGFORM SOLO
Std
YANNI LIVE AT THE ACROPOLIS 05/05/94
PRIVATE MUSIC G VIDEO LONGFORM SOLO
Std
YANNI LIVE AT THE ACROPOLIS 08/30/94
PRIVATE MUSIC M (2) VIDEO LONGFORM
SOLO Std
YANNI LIVE AT THE ACROPOLIS 09/13/94
PRIVATE MUSIC M (3) VIDEO LONGFORM
SOLO Std
YANNI LIVE AT THE ACROPOLIS 03/28/95
PRIVATE MUSIC M (5) VIDEO LONGFORM
SOLO Std
YANNI LIVE AT THE ACROPOLIS 04/22/98
PRIVATE MUSIC M (6) VIDEO LONGFORM
SOLO Std

Personnel
All music composed and produced by Yanni, except
Aria, which is based on The Flower Duet, from
the Lo Delibes opera Lakm, and popularized by
various British Airways TV commercials[20]
Orchestra: The Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra (London, England)
Conductor: Shardad Rohani
Yanni Composer, Engineer, Mixing, Primary
Artist (piano/keyboards), Producer

Violin duet on Within Attraction Karen Briggs

and Shardad Rohani
Vocalists for Aria Darlene Koldenhoven and
Lynn Davis

5.2 Production
Recorded by Andy Rose.
Engineered and mixed by Yanni at his private studios.
Mastered by Chris Bellman at Bernie Grundman
Mastering, Los Angeles.
Orchestrations by Shardad Rohani, Jerey Silverman and John Rinehimer.
Transcriptions and arrangement preparation by
Richard Boukas and Shahrdad Rohani.
All music published by 23rd Street Publishing,
Inc./YanniWorks, administered worldwide by 23rd
Street Publishing, Inc. (ASCAP).
Art direction and design by Norman Moore.
Photography by Lynn Goldsmith.

6 References
[1] Chart history for Live at the Acropolis". AllMusic. Retrieved 2007-08-31.
[2] Chart history for Live at the Acropolis music video. Billboard.com. Retrieved 2009-04-02.
[3] Imdb Emmy Award listing. imdb.com. Retrieved 200709-10.
[4] Windham Hill. Windham.com. Archived from the
original on 2006-11-09. Retrieved 2007-01-01.
[5] Veras Communications. .verastv.com. Archived from
the original on 2008-01-07. Retrieved 2007-01-01.
[6] Yanni Career Highlights (PDF). Yanni.com. Archived
from the original (PDF) on 2008-02-28. Retrieved 200612-21.

[7] Ocial biography. Yanni.com. Archived from the original on 2007-10-22. Retrieved 2006-12-21.
[8] Yanni; Rensin, David (2002). Yanni in Words. Miramax
Books. p. 67. ISBN 1-4013-5194-8.
[9] The Mozart Eect. epilepsy.org. Retrieved 2007-0807.
[10] Live at the Acropolis (CD liner). Yanni. Private Music.
1994. 010058-21222-5.
[11] 2004 Interview with Charlie Adams. chipritter.com.
Retrieved 2007-08-17.
[12] Bio from: Joseph, Bradley (2000). Solo Journey Intermediate Piano Book. Bradley Joseph Publishing.
[13] Karen Briggs bio at NPR. npr.org. Retrieved 2007-0817.
[14] AllMusic
[15] Christgau, Robert (November 29, 1994). Turkey Shoot.
The Village Voice (New York). Retrieved September 23,
2015.
[16] Widran, Jonathan. Review of Live at the Acropolis".
AllMusic. Retrieved 2015-04-29.
[17] Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA)
Gold and Platinum searchable database. RIAA.com.
Retrieved 2007-01-01.
[18] RIAA News Room May 1, 1998 Yannis Live At The
Acropolis album hit the four million mark while the video
on Private Music was awarded multi-Platinum status at
600,000 units". RIAA.com. Retrieved 2007-08-09.
[19] Tamms, Katie. Review of Yanni Live at the Acropolis".
AllMovie. Retrieved 2006-12-21.
[20] Yanni Live, The Symphony Concerts 1994 - Ocial concert
program. 1994.

External links
Ocial Website
Live at the Acropolis at AllMusic
Live at the Acropolis at AllMovie
Live at the Acropolis at the Internet Movie Database
Live at the Acropolis at Discogs
Live at the Acropolis at Last.fm

EXTERNAL LINKS

Text and image sources, contributors, and licenses

8.1

Text

Live at the Acropolis Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Live_at_the_Acropolis?oldid=711436668 Contributors: Ed g2s, Cab88, Ulmanor, BD2412, Rjwilmsi, Koavf, Gareth E. Kegg, Wasted Time R, Hydrargyrum, SmackBot, Rutja76, Timneu22, Ralphkoyess, SkyWalker, J Milburn, Aherunar, Cydebot, PhiLiP, Milonica, Hullaballoo Wolfowitz, Baccyak4H, Cricket02, Sagabot, Wiz-Pro3, Sjones23,
Werideatdusk33, SieBot, WRK, Ahangar-e-Gaz, Binksternet, Keraunoscopia, Mild Bill Hiccup, Romaine, Addbot, Dan56, MrOllie, LaaknorBot, Soupforone, Tassedethe, DinoBot2, Yobot, J Milburn Bot, AnomieBOT, Citation bot, Ancientsc, Xqbot, RCraig09, Jonesey95,
EmausBot, Jonnyray1, Starcheerspeaksnewslostwars, H3llBot, ClueBot NG, CactusBot, Kasirbot, BG19bot, Kbabej, Monkbot, CyberFatal01, The Quixotic Potato and Anonymous: 38

8.2

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8.3

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