Ziggy & Mile Johnston

“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 YCA (Young Concert Artists) 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.

Ziggy and Miles’ long-awaited new album, Sidekick, featured as one of WQXR’s (New York’s classical music radio station) “Best New Classical Albums of 2023”. Praised by Soundboard Magazine as “[played] with perfect unanimity and admirable virtuosity”, it showcases new works written for the brothers, their own “transfixingly beautiful” (Limelight) arrangement of Debussy’s Clair de Lune, and works that have shaped their musical identity from Spain, Latin America, and Australia. The title track “Sidekick” is a character piece written for the brothers by award winning composer Katie Jenkins that ties this theme together. In Jenkins’ own words, “They make fun of each other but need each other, they compete with one another but are stronger together.”

With over 50 awards between them in guitar competitions and local music Eisteddfods across their home city of Melbourne, Ziggy and Miles proved their artistry as soloists and a duo from a young age. A selection of their early accolades includes major prizes in competitions hosted by the Guitar Foundation of America, the Adelaide International Guitar Festival, and the Melbourne Recital Center. Self-released in 2014, their debut album, Recollections, served as both a tribute to the music that inspired the brothers growing up, and as their first professional milestone to look back upon and ‘recollect’.

Ziggy and Miles are actively involved in community engagement and have a passion for providing education and music to people without access to live performances or high-quality music education. They have collaborated with organisations across Australia and the US including Melbourne Recital Centre, The Juilliard School, and Project: Music Heals Us. One highlight for the brothers was their Music Always tour, partnered with Melbourne Recital Centre. This 2-week 12-concert tour saw the brothers travelling across their home state of Victoria to aged care facilities, community centres, medical facilities, and psychiatric wards. Ziggy and Miles regard this as one of their most emotionally challenging yet rewarding experiences as musicians to date.

Graduates of The Juilliard School, Ziggy and Miles were the first Australians and first guitar duo accepted into the school’s prestigious Artist Diploma program, where they also received the Norman Benzaquen Career Advancement Grant. They studied under Multiple Grammy Winner, Sharon Isbin, who has shaped and inspired their artistic identities. During both their master’s and Artist Diploma at Juilliard, the brothers received distinguished awards to assist their studies from Australian Foundations, including the American Australia Association, Ian Potter Cultural Trust, and Phonographic Performance Company of Australia.

Ziggy and Miles play guitars by Australian luthier Jim Redgate and play Savarez strings. They are managed internationally by Young Concert Artists.