Towner, Muthspiel and Grigoryan, Three Renowned Guitarists, Reunite on Tour in Australia

Ralph Towner, Wolfgang Muthspiel and Slava Grigoryan are acclaimed as three of the world's finest guitarists in their own fields. Although they share a common bond of being classically trained and inspired, each guitarist has a distinctive approach to composition and performance, and are all intent on expanding the guitar oeuvre having led vividly different forays into world, jazz, and modern classical music. Coming together for a one-off trio tour in Australia in 2005, they felt an instant personal and musical connection and agreed to make this an ongoing project alongside their solo careers and other collaborations. Their first CD 'From a Dream' (recorded & released in 2008 on Australian label Which Way Music) highlighted their individual musical influences and displayed their artistry within a trio format, creating a truly new ensemble 'voice' in the guitar world.

This, tour celebrates the release of 'Travel Guide' on European label ECM. Ralph Towner brought the project to ECM and its legendary founder and producer Manfred Eicher. The trio recorded Travel Guide in Lugano in August 2012, with Eicher as producer. Towner has been a key ECM recording artist for more than 40 years, while Muthspiel and Grigoryan both make their ECM debuts here. Grigoryan is well known as the pre-eminent Australian classical guitarist of his generation, and Muthspiel has been an important figure on the transatlantic jazz scene for two decades, with his own bands and as a contributor to groups of Gary Burton, Paul Motian and many others.

Grigoryan's virtuosity has earned him a cult following in Australia and Muthspiel's reputation stretches well beyond the borders of his homeland, Austria. Both Grigoryan and Muthspiel share one musical hero in particular: the legendary Ralph Towner. The American-born Towner is a celebrated acoustic guitarist who also plays piano, synthesizer, percussion and trumpet. Towner is known as a truly inspirational innovator on the modern musical landscape - his ideas ever fresh, though they span a career of more than 30 years. He has made notable recordings of jazz, classical music, folk music, and world music. For guitar enthusiasts and music lovers of all kinds, this ensemble is all about sharing their passion for music with others and giving audiences the chance to hear three generations of musicians all performing together, yet with their distinct signature style. With world-class instrumentation and music destined to transport listeners to another world, this unique presentation of guitar mastery is not to be missed.

TOUR DETAILS:

HOBART, TAS | Friday 24 October - 8pm | MONA Museum Nolan Gallery
Bookings: (03) 6277 9900 | mona.net.au/what's-on/events

BYRON BAY, NSW | Sunday 26 October - 7.30pm | BYRON BAY COMMUNITY CENTRE
Bookings: (02) 6685 6807 | byroncentre.com.au

BRISBANE, QLD | Monday 27 October - 7.30pm | POWERHOUSE
Bookings: (07) 3358 8600 | brisbanepowerhouse.org

MELBOURNE, VIC | Tuesday 28 October - 7.30pm | MELBOURNE RECITAL CENTRE

ELISABETH MURDOCH HALL, LOCAL HEROES SERIES - with LEONARD GRIGORYAN
Bookings: (02) 9699 3333 | melbournerecital.com.au

ADELAIDE, SA | Thursday 30 October - 7:30pm | ADELAIDE FESTIVAL CENTRE, DUNSTAN PLAYHOUSE
Bookings: 131 246 | adelaidefestivalcentre.com.au

SYDNEY, NSW | Saturday 1 November - 7:30pm | CITY RECITAL HALL, ANGEL PLACE
Bookings: (02) 8256 2222 | cityrecitalhall.com

CANBERRA, ACT | Sunday 2 November - 7.30pm | STREET THEATRE
Bookings: (02) 6247 1223 | thestreet.org.au

RALPH TOWNER was born in Washington in 1940. He began his jazz career as a Bill Evans inspired pianist, then travelled to Vienna to study classical guitar with Karl Scheit, the renowned Austrian guitarist, lutenist and pedagogue. In New York City in the late 1960s, Towner freelanced on both piano and guitar, collaborating with musicians from Freddie Hubbard to Tim Hardin. He co-founded the band Oregon in 1970, together with Collin Walcott, Glenn Moore and Paul McCandless - all of whom would appear on Towner's ECM debut, Trios/Solos, in 1972. His recordings for ECM have included solo albums, duo projects (with John Abercrombie, Gary Peacock, Gary Burton and, recently, Paolo Fresu), bands under his direction (including the much-loved Solstice with Jan Garbarek, Eberhard Weber, Jon Christensen) and discs with Oregon. He has also contributed to albums by Keith Jarrett, Jan Garbarek, Kenny Wheeler and Egberto Gismonti, and guested with the group Azimuth. As an instrumentalist Towner has shaped distinct languages for his classical and 12-string guitars. He has described his approach to the guitar as "pianistic: my brain wants to have access to all those notes at once." As a composer he remains a unique force, combining baroque counterpoint, rhythms and melodies inspired by Brazilian music and jazz tradition, and a personal approach to harmony and development.

WOLFGANG MUTHSPIEL was born in Judenburg Austria in 1965. He played violin from the age of six and took up the guitar at 15. At the Academy of Music and Performing Arts in Graz he studied both classical and jazz guitar, subsequently winning national competitions for classical music as well as the International Guitar Competition in Mettman, Germany. Interested in improvisation from an early age, in 1986 he emigrated to the US to study at the New England Conservatory with teachers including Mick Goodrick. At The Berklee School Of Music he met Gary Burton who invited him to join his quintet. While based in New York from 1995 to 2002, he participated in a great variety of musical projects with artists including Rebekka Bakken, Trilok Gurtu, Youssou N'Dour, Gary Peacock, Dave Liebman, Peter Erskine and many others. Current projects include a duo with Brian Blade, a quartet featuring pianist Jean-Paul Brodbeck, and a trio with Larry Grenadier and Chris Cheek. In addition to his jazz projects, Muthspiel writes for contemporary classical ensembles and has received commissions from the Ensemble for New Music Zurich, Kangforum Wien, The Austrian Ministry of Arts, the Boston-based Marimolin ensemble and more. He is at home in many musical contexts and the integration of his electric guitar between the classical guitars of Towner and Grigoryan on the present recording seems entirely natural. He occasional expands the textural palette of the group with wordless singing, as on "Amarone Trio."

SLAVA GRIGORYAN was born in 1976 in Kazakhstan and moved with his family to Australia in 1981. Raised in Melbourne he began to study guitar at the age of seven and was playing professionally at the age of 12; he made his debut in Sydney at 14. Early success at the Tokyo International Classical Guitar Competition established his reputation and led to recordings on Sony (and, later, ABC) and he has appeared with leading orchestras including the London Philharmonic, the BBC Concert Orchestra, the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, the Northern Sinfonia, the Israel Symphony Orchestra, the Dresden Radio Orchestra, the Klagenfurt Symphony Orchestra and the Halle Orchestra. He appears often with his guitarist brother Leonard: their duo features the standard classical repertoire but also reaches out to embrace contemporary composition, jazz, folk and more. Both brothers are also members of the Australian guitar quartet, Saffire, and play in the Band of Brothers ensemble with Joseph and James Tawadros.

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