Slava Grigoryan Announced as Artistic Director for 2012 Adelaide Int'l Guitar Fest

Adelaide Festival Centre CEO and Artistic Director, Douglas Gautier has announced Slava Grigoryan as the Artistic Director for the Festival Centre's 2012 Adelaide International Guitar Festival which will be held from 9-12 August, 2012.

"Slava Grigoryan, one of Australia's most significant cultural ambassadors, directed the very successful 2010 Adelaide International Guitar Festival and took the event to a whole new level so we are delighted that he will be directing the 2012 Festival. We are really looking forward to continuing to work with him," Douglas said.

"Slava drew from his enormous musical expertise and international connections as one of Australia's finest musicians to deliver a Festival that audiences well and truly embraced. It is testament to his great work that 13% of all tickets for the 2010 Festival were bought by interstate or overseas patrons," he said.

"Following the incredible experience of last year's Festival and the feedback from artists and audiences, I'm very excited to be working on a second Festival," said Slava Grigoryan.
"There are so many extraordinary guitarists doing very exciting things with the instrument around the world and I'm really looking forward to bringing some of them together in Adelaide in 2012."
The Adelaide International Guitar Festival continues to garner a reputation for presenting some of the finest musicians from around the world and Australia. Reviews and feedback from audience members and performing artists prove that the Festival is becoming an unmissable event:

"Organisers pulled off an impressive coup this time in securing Australia's own internationally acclaimed virtuoso Slava Grigoryan as the festival's artistic director. The classical guitarist has certainly put his stamp on the event, using his network and knowledge to attract some truly world class acts to Australia"

Chris Johnson, Canberra Times

"his (Manuel Barrueco) playing makes me want to get on a plane and fly to Adelaide. Lucky audiences there."

Margaret Throsby, Classic FM

"It was great to be back at the Adelaide International Guitar Festival, just like the first time I performed in the Festival, audiences proved that they know how to rock!" Mason Rack, Australia

Minister Assisting the Premier in the Arts, the Hon John Hill congratulated the Adelaide Festival Centre for again appointing such a distinguished classical guitarist as Artistic Director of the Adelaide International Guitar Festival.

"Slava put together a diverse and engaging program which was widely acclaimed and I am sure that the 2012 program will be just as amazing," Minister Hill said.

Slava Grigoryan has forged a prolific reputation as an international classical guitar virtuoso. Born in Kazakhstan, he immigrated with his family to Australia in 1981 and began studying the guitar at the age of six. By the time he was 17 he was signed to the Sony Classical Label. His relationship with Sony Classical, ABC Classics in Australia, and now his own label Which Way Music has led to the release of more than 20 solo and collaborative albums spanning a vast range of musical genres.

His first tour, at the young age of 18 was with guitar legends Paco Pena and Leo Kottke. Since then he's travelled the world as a soloist in recitals and with orchestras in Europe, Asia and North America, and has performed at dozens of national and international arts festivals and guitar festivals. He has won ARIA awards for Best Classical Album and performs regularly as a soloist with all of Australia's major orchestras. Internationally, his performances have taken him to many of the world's leading concert halls and festivals.

Collaborations have played a huge part in Grigoryan's career, most notably the guitar duo with his brother Leonard Grigoryan. Their touring has seen them perform throughout Europe, America, Asia, Russia and the Middle-East. Other collaborations have been with ensembles such as Goldner, Flinders and Australian String Quartets in Australia, the Endellion, Skampa and Chillingirian quartets in Europe, the Southern Cross Soloists, pianist Michael Kieren-Harvey and baritone Jose Carbo and Grigoryan was a founding member of Saffire, the Australian guitar quartet. He has also collaborated with numerous composers and premiered many new works, significantly with composers William Lovelady, Nigel Westlake and Shaun Rigney.

Grigoryan has also had long term collaborations with MGT - a guitar trio featuring jazz icons Ralph Towner and Wolfgang Muthspiel, and a duo with Austrian electric bassist Al Slavik. A more recent project has been Band of Brothers, featuring Leonard Grigoryan and brothers, Joseph and James Tawadros, in a fusion of contemporary jazz, classical and middle-eastern music.