Slava Grigoryan

Slava Grigoryan, an award-winning classical guitarist of Armenian descent, entered the world in Kazakhstan during 1976 before emigrating alongside his violinist parents Eduard and Irina Grigoryan and his younger brother Leonard to Melbourne, Australia. Together with Leonard, later known as the Grigoryan Brothers, he commenced guitar lessons at an early age under their father’s guidance, turning professional by the time he reached twelve. He pursued further classical training throughout secondary school and at the Victorian Academy of the Arts, ultimately becoming the youngest artist ever to claim victory at the Tokyo International Classical Guitar Competition in 1993, an achievement that immediately secured him a Sony recording contract. His first release for the label, Spirit of Spain, surfaced in 1995, succeeded by Dance of the Angel in 1998 and Another Night in London in 1999. Shifting to ABC Classics in 2003, he issued Sonatas & Fantasies while also delivering the Grigoryan Brothers’ inaugural album, Play. Constant touring followed, encompassing joint appearances with his brother, concerto engagements with orchestras, and independent recitals. In 2004 the Grigoryan Brothers unveiled the Rodrigo Guitar Concertos, after which Slava presented Afterimage, The Music of Shaun Rigney, and, the next year, the collaborative Continental Shift with singer, songwriter, and producer Al Slavik. That same year he proposed a joint tour to jazz improvisers Wolfgang Muthspiel and Ralph Towner, musicians whose classical foundations he had long admired; the resulting performances rotated solo features, duets, and trio formats, and the ensemble has continued ever since. Slava issued the solo album Shadow Dances in 2006, while the Grigoryan Brothers offered Debussy, Mompou & De Falla: Impressions. A studio collaboration among Slava, Towner, and Muthspiel yielded From a Dream, which appeared on Which Way Music in 2008 and was later reissued by Muthspiel’s Material label in 2009; the same year ABC Classics released Slava’s Baroque Guitar Concertos. The Grigoryan Brothers’ 2009 recording Distance marked their first venture outside classical repertoire, employing guest musicians on strings, bass, and drums for modern jazz selections by Towner, Muthspiel, and others. In 2011 the siblings joined Joseph & James Tawadros for the varied Band of Brothers project, followed in 2012 by the thematic The Seasons. During that year Towner convened Slava and Muthspiel in Lugano, Switzerland, with producer Manfred Eicher; the sessions produced Travel Guide, issued by ECM in October 2013.