Duos are common enough in the musical world, but sibling duos are a rare thing. Slava and Leonard Grigoryan are that rare thing. There is no rivalry, only the bonds of family and a love of music.

Since their first acclaimed Australian tour in 2002, Slava and Leonard have astounded audiences worldwide with their guitar virtuosity. They have toured extensively throughout Australia and overseas: to Europe, the United States, Britain, Asia, South Africa and the Middle East. When not on stage they are in the studio, having released five duo albums – the most recent ‘The Seasons’ in 2012 – all of which have been nominated for ARIA awards.

The brothers also have performed with symphony orchestras and at international festivals in Australia and Europe. From having appeared at numerous festivals, Slava has taken on the role of giving form to a festival with his appointment as Artistic Director of the 2010 Adelaide International Guitar Festival.

Although regarded as Australia’s finest guitar duo performing much of the instrument’s standard classical repertoire, their passion is to expand their horizons through new arrangements, their own compositions and commissions. This ambition can be heard as the brothers take the guitar into genres such as Latin, jazz, folk and contemporary music.

There are no boundaries, only new frontiers to cross. Fuelling this thirst for diversity is the brothers’ sheer joy of improvisation. In concert, mix it all together and you have a dimension to guitar-playing rarely seen in the musical world. These qualities are evident not only in their own concerts, but in other projects in which they are involved: Slava and Leonard are one half of ‘Band of Brothers’, along with Joseph and James Tawadros. The quartet’s repertoire crosses cultural and stylistic barriers, from world music, to jazz, and classical. Slava is also a member of the guitar trio MGT which includes two giants of the jazz world, Wolfgang Muthspiel and Ralph Towner. Leonard is composer and performer in the Australian contemporary jazz ensemble FGHR.

When Slava and Leonard Grigoryan pick up their guitars, they also step outside the norm. In doing so they never compromise their musical integrity, nor the integrity of the music. Their large and devoted base of fans know this, and applaud them and their music.

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