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The Kazakhstani-born Australian guitarist of Armenian heritage, Slava Grigoryan, was born to Eduard and Irina Grigoryan, both professional violinists. His family emigrated to Australia in 1981 and he was raised in Melbourne. He began to study guitar with his father at the age of 7. By the age of 12 he was performing professionally and made his solo debut in Sydney at 14. He attended Caulfield Junior College (then known as Caulfield North Central School) and St Michael's Grammar School, during which time he studied with Ron Payne, and at 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, Slava Grigoryan signed with Sony Music Entertainment in 1995 for whom he released four solo albums. At the age of 18, his first tour was with guitar legends Paco Peña and Leo Kottke. he has toured extensively in Australia, Europe, North America and Asia. He has performed as a soloist at international festivals such as Brighton, City of London, Harrogate, Newbury, Salisbury, and Chelsea Arts Festivals in the UK, the Dresden Musikfestpiel, the Guitar Festival of Great Britain, the Darwin International Guitar Festival, the GFA Festival in La Jolla, California, the Wirral International Guitar Festival, the Al Bustan Festival in Beirut, the Hong Kong Arts Festival, the New Zealand Arts Festival, the Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, Brisbane and Perth International Arts Festivals and WOMAD festivals in the UK, USA, Australia and South Africa. He made his New York City debut in 1997.
Slava Grigoryan has appeared with many of the world's leading orchestras, including the London Philharmonic Orchestra, BBC Concert Orchestra, Northern Sinfonia, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Israel Symphony Orchestra, Dresden Radio Orchestra, Klagenfurt Symphony Orchestra in Austria, Hallé Orchestra, Hong Kong Sinfonietta, New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, Australian Chamber Orchestra and all of the Australian Symphony Orchestras (Sydney Symphony Orchestra, Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra, Queensland Symphony Orchestra). He has also performed with many string quartets and chamber ensembles including the Goldner, Flinders and Australian String Quartets in Australia, and the Endellion, Skampa, and Chillingirian quartets in the UK, and the Southern Cross Soloists. He was a founding member of Saffire - The Australian Guitar Quartet with fellow Australian musicians (featuring Karin Schaupp, Gareth Koch and Anthony Field, later replaced by Leonard Grigoryan) with whom he toured Europe, North America and Australia.
Slava Grigoryan changed labels to ABC Classics in 2001 and subsequently released another solo album and an album recorded with his younger brother, Leonard Grigoryan. Frequent collaborators, the pair perform as Grigoryan Brothers and have released five albums, all of which have been nominated for ARIA Awards. In 2005, he toured Australia with American great, Ralph Towner, and legendary jazz guitarist from Austria, Wolfgang Muthspiel. The first recording of this trio, known as MGT, was released in 2008; "Travel Guide" was released on the ECM label in 2013. His debut classical album for ABC Classics, "Sonatas and Fantasies", was released in March 2002 and was awarded Best Classical Album at the 2002 ARIA Awards. 2003 saw the release of two new albums on the ABC Classics label, Play (with Leonard Grigoryan) and Saffire (The Australian Guitar Quartet), which went on to win the 2003 Best Classical Album ARIA. Since then he has recorded a further two albums with Saffire, an album of music by Australian composer Shaun Rigney, a recording of the Rodrigo Concertos with his brother Leonard and the Queensland Symphony Orchestra, an album of music composed by Nigel Westlake entitled "Shadowdances", and an album of Baroque guitar concertos with the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra under Benjamin Northey.
The collaboration with brother Leonard Grigoryan is developing as his most significant one. They have released their 6 albums, and have performed together in the UK, USA, Germany, Austria, France, Italy, Spain, Russia, Estonia, Croatia, Hungary, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Indonesia, South Africa and the UAE as well as playing regular tours of Australia. In 2012, the brothers collaborated with leading Australian baritone José Carbó on "My Latin Heart" - a number-one selling album and show. In 2014 Grigoryan Brothers released "This Time" which has been well reviewed. Some of their previous releases include "The Seasons" (2012) and "Distance" (2009). Slava Grigoryan was appointed as Artistic Director of the Adelaide International Guitar Festival for 2010, 2012, 2014 and 2016.
In addition to his achievement in the Tokyo International Classical Guitar Competition, Slava Grigoryan 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. In 2000 he appeared as a soloist with the Australian Chamber Orchestra and was part of the 2000 Sydney Olympic Arts Festival.
The ARIA Music Awards are presented annually from 1987 by the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA). Slava Grigoryan won the ARIA Award for Best Classical Album for "Sonatas & Fantasies" in 2002 and for Bach: Cello Suites Volume I in 2017. Saffire won the same category in 2003 for their debut album, "Saffire". He has received 16 nominations, either on his own, as a member of Grigoryan Brothers, or shared with other artists (often including his brother Leonard). |
