What happens when a duo becomes a trio? Simply more music magic!

They often perform together as a duo but, in reality, Slava and Sharon Grigoryan are actually part of a trio. Because when they are on the road together their seven-year-old son Sebastian is often with them.

“We are on the road together for three or four weeks every year,” Sharon says. “We’ve just finished a week of shows in Queensland. We were at the Mackay Chamber Music Festival where we have played for a few years now. Then Noosa, Toowoomba and then down to Brunswick Heads. Seb has learnt to pack his own suitcase for our road trips.”

And the trio will soon be heading for the 21st SXS Chamber Music Festival, which is owned, operated and presented annually by Queensland’s Southern Cross Soloists.

For a couple of decades this chamber music ensemble hosted their annual festival at Bangalow, just across the border, but they’ve brought it back home to Tamborine Mountain on the Scenic Rim, presenting it in partnership with Shambala Estate.

This 21st festival edition, curated by three-time Grammy Award-winning Queensland musician Tim Munro, will unfold across three days from August 22 to 24.

So, it’s almost upon us, but there’s still time to get tickets for what promises to be a charming and entertaining event featuring 12 virtuosic artists including soprano Alexandra Flood; one of the world’s great lieder pianists, Sholto Kynoch; the popular classical music boy band Orava Quartet; and Sharon and Slava Grigoryan.

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Slava Grigoryan  is a classical guitar virtuoso who has been described as “a wizard of the guitar”. His wife Sharon is an acclaimed cellist and was with the Australian String Quarter from 2012 to 2020. She has performed with the Australian Chamber Orchestra, the Mahler Chamber Orchestra and, among others, the Melbourne Chamber Orchestra. The couple are from Melbourne but now call Adelaide home.

Slava has had a stellar career and is noted for his collaborations. One of the most notable was a trio featuring him, the famed American guitarist Ralph Towner and Austrian Wolfgang Muthspiel. At times, he also forms a duo with his brother Leonard. And he directs the Adelaide Guitar Festival.

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Slava and Sharon knew each other for some years before marrying.

“We bumped into each other many times, “ Sharon says. “We first met in around 2002 or 2003 and got together in 2014. When we fly it’s too risky to put my cello (in the hull of) the plane so it has a window seat next to me. We’re lucky we can go travelling together.”

They build family memories as they go and their Tamborine Mountain appearances  are something they are looking forward to. What can we expect from them? Well, some Piazzola for a start.

“And Slava and I are performing a concert with a Baroque theme, including Bach cello suites. We’re lucky we can play a whole range of different genres.”

They will also perform with the Orava Quartet. “That will be fun,” Sharon says. Slava has a long history with the festival.

“I used to play at Bangalow quite regularly,” he says. “I have lots of good memories of that. We are familiar with Tamborine and we’re really looking forward to playing there.”

The festival is broken into three sections – Festival Welcome, The Chapel Series and The Galaxy Ballroom Mainstage Concerts. Artists will perform more 30 sublime chamber music works from 25 composers (11 of whom are female) across the two-day, three-night multi award-nominated festival.

Festival director and SXS flute soloist Tim Munro says: “Chamber music is about connection, from one heart to another. In putting together this program, I asked myself how to connect musicians, how to connect with audiences, and how to connect to the community.

‘There are intimate solos and boisterous septets. Songs with and without words. Love gained and love lost’

“How to make this time on Tamborine Mountain special: intimate, intense, pleasurable. I wanted to gather a crew of world-class chamber musicians who are also wonderful humans. They all appear in many guises across the festival – as soloists, duo partners, chamber musicians – and many are bringing dream projects.

“Throughout the weekend we cross centuries and continents. There are intimate solos and boisterous septets. Songs with and without words. Love gained and love lost. Sounds of whimsy and nostalgia, sounds both strange and captivating. And musical friends, old as well as new.”

Kerri Cryer, Scenic Rim’s portfolio councillor for community, arts and culture, says she “welcomes the staging of this event in our region, which continues to build on its reputation as a centre of arts and culture”.

“The spectacular natural beauty of Tamborine Mountain will provide the perfect backdrop for the performance of stunningly beautiful works of chamber music that will delight locals and visitors to our region alike.”

The 21st SXS Chamber Music Festival, Tamborine Mountain, August 22-24.

southernxsoloists.com