SLAVA GRIGORYAN

Slava Grigoryan (born 21 January 1976) is an Australian classical guitarist and recording artist of Armenian heritage. He was born in Kazakhstan to Eduard and Irina Grigoryan, both professional violinists. His family emigrated to Australia in 1981 and he was raised in Melbourne. Grigoryan began to study guitar with his father at the age of seven. By the age of twelve he was already performing professionally, and he made his solo debut in Sydney at fourteen. He attended Caulfield Junior College (Then known as CNCS-Caulfield North Central School) and St Michael's Grammar School during which time he studied with Ron Payne, and the Victorian College of the Arts.

Following his win at the Tokyo International Classical Guitar Competition, where he was the youngest finalist in the history of that competition, Grigoryan was signed by Sony Music Entertainment in 1995 for whom he released four solo albums 'Spirit Of Spain' (1995), 'Dance Of The Angel' (1997), 'Another Night In London' (1999) and 'Love In Recital' (2000). During that time he toured extensively in Europe, North America and Asia, making his New York City debut in 1997.

He changed labels to ABC Classics in 2001 and released a solo album 'Sonata's And Fantasies' and an album recorded with his younger brother Leonard Grigoryan. A frequent collaborator, they perform as 'Grigorian Brothers'. Together they have released five albums, all of which have been nominated for AIRA awards. In 2014 Grigorian Brothers released 'This Time' which has been well reviewed. Some of the brother's previous releases include 'The Seasons' and 'Distance'. He has also joined with fellow Australian musicians Anthony Field, Karin Schaupp and Gareth Koch to release albums under the group name Saffire (Field has since been replaced with Leonard Grigoryan).

In addition to his achievement in the Tokyo International Classical Guitar Competition, he has won a number of awards including Young Australian of the Year for the Arts in 1998, the Mo award for Instrumentalist of the Year in 2001, and the ARIA for Best Classical Album in 2002 (solo) and 2003 (as part of Saffire). In 2000 he appeared as a soloist with the Australian Chamber Orchestra and also was part of the 2000 Sydney Olympic Arts Festival. Slava Grigoryan won the ARIA Award for Best Classical Album for 'Sonatas & Fantasies' in 2002, for 'Bach: Cello Suites Volume I' in 2017 and for 'Bach: Cello Suites Volume II' in 2018.

References

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slava_Grigoryan