Ziggy & Miles
Inspired by their time living in New York City, brothers Ziggy & Miles present a program that demonstrates the guitar duo’s unique strengths: its chamber music-like interplay, ability to sound as a unified entity, and capacity to evoke the rich colours of a full orchestra.
Written for the brothers, the title piece of this concert, Sidekick by Katie Jenkins, intentionally inflates and satires the brothers’ relationship with musical bickering and sparring virtuosity. She writes: “They make fun of each other but need each other, they compete with one another but are stronger together. Sidekick satires their unbreakably strong but at times hilarious brotherly dynamic.” This concert also features the brother’s arrangement of Claude Debussy’s Suite bergamasque. Through their arrangement, Debussy’s timeless classic finds a natural home on the guitar through its similar focus toward intimacy and colour. Bookending the concert are two of the most important guitar duo pieces from Latin America. Beginning with Astor Piazzolla’s fiery Tango no.1: Deciso from the Tango Suite, and finishing with Radamés Gnattali’s Suite Retratos, both works are masterclasses in guitar chamber music and interpretive freedom.
Program:
1. Tango no.1: Deciso from ‘Tango Suite’ by Astor Piazzolla – 5 mins
2. Suite bergamasque by Claude Debussy, arr. Ziggy & Miles – 18 mins
i. Prélude
ii. Menuet
iii. Clair de Lune
iv. Passepied
3. Sidekick by Katie Jenkins – 7 mins
4. Suite Retratos by Radamés Gnattali – 19 mins
i. Pixinguinha (Choro)
ii. Ernesto Nazareth (Valse)
iii. Anacleto de Medeiros (Schottisch)
iv. Chiquinha Gonzaga (Corta Jaca)
“Australian guitarist brothers making history” (The Age), Ziggy and Miles are two of their home country’s finest young musicians forging an international career. Their performances are known for their “deeply considered musicianship, immaculate care and superlative technique” (5MBS). Winners of the 2023 Young Concert Artists (YCA) Susan Wadsworth International Auditions, the brothers have become the first guitar duo and second guitarists to receive this prestigious award in the organisation’s 63-year history.
Based in NYC, the brothers maintain an active concert schedule across Australia, New Zealand, and the US. Their repertoire covers the full spectrum of the classical canon with a focus on commissioning and premiering underplayed works by current composers. Ziggy and Miles are recent graduates of The Juilliard School where they completed their Artist Diploma and Master or Music under the tutelage of Multiple Grammy Winner, Sharon Isbin. Ziggy and Miles were the 2024/25 Musicians-in-Residence at Dumbarton Oaks under Harvard University.
Ziggy and Miles play guitars by Australian luthier Jim Redgate with Savarez strings. They are managed internationally by Young Concert Artists.