An Australian classical guitar duo are to play two gigs in Scotland, as they tour the UK with Canadian star k.d lang.
Slava migrated with his parents from Kazakhstan to Australia, and his brother Leonard was born in Melbourne. Both his parents were orchestral string players in the Soviet Union – dad played violin and mum played viola – and also with Melbourne Symphony Orchestra.
Their dad taught them both classical guitar until they were 18 despite never having played classical guitar. Slava and Leonard started performing and recording together when Leonard was just 13 (9 year age difference).
Slava moved to London in 1994 at the age of 16 where he was signed to Sony Music releasing four albums over four years. Slava has also been the Artistic Director of the Adelaide Guitar Festival for the last 12 years and their duo album ‘Songs Without Words’ – classical repertoire including Bach, Elgar, Dvorák and Rachmaninoff – was at the top of the Australian Classical Album Charts for three months.
The Grigoryan Brothers’ repertoire spans centuries, continents and genres and they believe UK audiences are accustomed to something new which is why they are excited to introduce repertoire not normally associated with the classical guitar, such as Tchaikovsky’s The Seasons and works by Debussy, Bach and Handel – the set list for the tour features some original compositions, music from their most recent classical duo release ‘Songs Without Words’ and some fiery South American music.
With 12 albums as a duo under their belt, they have won 4 ARIA awards (Australian Recording Industry Association) and had 24 ARIA nominations.
Signed to ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) they are in the process of a digital release ‘Grigoryan Brothers Collection’ to coincide with the UK tour. They also composed and recorded the soundtrack for an award winning film called ‘A Boy Called Sailboat’ directed by Cameron Nugent about a boy who writes a song and the impact of that song, due for global release via HBO 2019/20.
They said: ‘We are drawn to music with great melodies and interesting harmonic progressions. As guitarists we want to “sing” as much as possible when playing.’
Their Scottish dates are: 21 July, Aberdeen Music Hall; 22 July, Glasgow Royal Concert Hall.
Tickets are available HERE.
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