Live at the Acropolis

“Yanni Live at the Acropolis” is the name of both an album and video by contemporary instrumental musician Yanni. Both were recorded live at the Herodes Atticus Theatre in Athens, Greece, on September 25, 1993; they were released in 1994. The album peaked at #1 on “billboard’s Top new age Albums chart and at #5 on the billboard 200 chart. The video received an emmy nomination for “Outstanding Individual Achievement in Lighting Direction (Electronic) for a Drama Series, Variety Series, Miniseries or a Special.”

The album and video were tied in to a live pbs special and became one of the top fundraising shows for PBS, raising $13 million, with more than 750,000 videos and more than 7 million albums sold worldwide. The concert has been seen in 65 countries by half-a-billion people, has remained on the charts almost continuously since its release, and is the second best-selling music video of all time.

This was Yanni’s first live album. In addition to his core band, it utilized The Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra under the supervision of conductor Shardad Rohani. The concert, one of Yanni’s dreams ever since he had left his native greece in 1992, was the first in the country.