About Us

Nick Russoniello (saxophone)
www.nickrussoniello.com.au
 

Nick Russoniello, one of Australia’s most dynamic young artists, enjoys an exciting and varied performance career both in Australia and abroad. Nick has been the recipient of a number of major awards including the 2011 ABC Symphony Australia Young Performer of the Year and the 2013 Fine Music Kruger Scholarship. Nick has appeared as a soloist with the Adelaide, Queensland, Melbourne and Sydney Symphony Orchestras and as a guest artist with many of the nation’s leading chamber music groups including the Acacia Quartet, Omega Ensemble and the Sydney Camerata Quartet

Nick’s recent performance highlights include appearing at Sydney Festival’s Symphony in the Domain as a soloist with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra in front of an estimated audience of 50,000, touring regional N.S.W as a soloist with with the S.S.O., performing at the World Saxophone Congress (Scotland) with Continuum Sax and renown Dutch Ensemble The Four Baritones and completing a number of recordings and broadcasts for ABC Classic FM and Fine Music 102.5. In 2014 Nick released his debut solo album Between Worlds and undertook a national tour.

Nick appears regularly as a member of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra and has appeared with the Australian World Orchestra and the Australian Opera and Ballet Orchestra. Nick is a sought after chamber musician and performs as a member of Continuum Sax (Australia’s foremost saxophone quartet), Duo Histoire (with guitarist Murilo Tanouye) and The Sax Summit. Alongside his performance achievements Nick’s original compositions for saxophone have been performed by world leading saxophonists including Niels Bijl (Netherands), Jay Byrnes (Australia) and Andrew Smith (Australia).




Murilo Tanouye (guitar)


Born in Brazil, Murilo began his musical career learning Bossa Nova and classical guitar from Renato Candro, a self-taught musician that showed him the guitar style of Brazilian legends such as Baden Powell, Joao Gilberto and Garoto. At 16 years of age, Murilo was awarded a full scholarship to study in the US with distinguished American classical guitarist Carl Bernstein. Two years later he was the recipient of another scholarship to pursue further studies at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music in Sydney under the tutelage of Gregory Pikler. In 2007, Murilo successfully completed his B.Mus. performance degree with First Class Honours and immediately began his post-graduate studies upon receiving an Australian Postgraduate Award from the Australian Government.
 
Murilo’s wide range of musical interests has led him to pursue creative collaborations in a variety of ensembles and musical contexts. His fluency in both the electric and acoustic guitar is showcased in four albums with different groups and ensembles: ‘Black Pearl’ (2013) with Roger Vs The Man, a folk/progressive rock extravaganza with Zappa-esque arrangements; ‘Five Coffees‘ (2012), the energetic self-titled EP that mixes raw funk/hiphop with elements of neo-soul, motown and RnB, ‘Mountain Girl’ (2011) with indie-rock band Civilians and Histoire Du Tango (2010) with saxophonist Nick Russoniello, winner of the 2011 edition of the ABC Young Performer Award.
 
His performance career across Australia has been extensive and diverse, featuring recitals and concerts with a variety of ensembles and covering cities and regional areas in NSW, QLD, VIC and Tasmania. Performing highlights include an opening show with Civilians for the Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeroes’ Australian tour at FOX Studios, a collaboration with Japanese drumming ensemble TaikOz as guitarist and composer for the Urban Fusion concert series and a tour of Korea and Hong Kong with the award-winning dance company Legs On The Wall performing ‘Symphony’ by theatre composer Stefan Gregory.


Their music is evocative, sensitive and sensual (…). Their playing pulled at the heartstrings of everyone who heard them. I cannot recommend Duo Histoire highly enough to you.”
Mark Walton
OAM