Oh brother, what an absolute classic

AUSTRALIA’S top guitartoting siblings, the Grigoryan Brothers, are returning to the classics — and returning to Hobart next weekend.

Slava and Leonard Grigoryan are regarded as the country’s finest exponents of the guitar’s standard classical repertoire, with four of their six albums having been nominated for ARIA Awards.

But the brothers are passionate about expanding their horizons through new arrangements, new commissions and their own compositions, as they take the classical guitar beyond genre boundaries into jazz, folk and contemporary music.

At Mona next weekend, the Grigoryan Brothers will perform works from their latest album Songs Without Words, which came out last year, and other works that highlight their diverse skills.

Songs Without Words features songs by composers such as Bach, Elgar, Dvorak, Rachmaninoff, Faure, de Falla and Ponce, as arranged for the brothers by their father Edward — who also arranged the music of Tchaikovsky’s suite for piano, The Seasons, for his sons’ critically acclaimed 2012 release of the same name.

The Grigoryan Brothers will be supported by US fingerstyle guitar wizard Richard Gilewitz, who has been fascinating listeners with his six- and 12string gymnastics for nearly four decades.

Embracing the challenge of mastering and adapting many genres of music for the acoustic guitar, Gilewitz began honing his skills during the late 1970s, while studying computer science, mathematics and music at the University of Alabama.

In concert he explores the history of the guitar, playing everything from classical, folk, blues, ragtime and Americana to pop, stopping everywhere in between.

The Grigoryan Brothers and Richard Gilewitz perform in Mona’s Nolan Gallery from 7.30pm next Sunday (February 11). Tickets are $45, $40 concession, pre-sale from www.mona.net.au, or $50/$45 at the door, if not already sold out.