Saffire (guitar quartet)

Saffire or Saffire: The Australian Guitar Quartet were an Australian classical music group, which formed in 2002. It consisted of four guitarists Anthony Field, Slava Grigoryan, Gareth Koch and Karin Schaupp. Leonard Grigoryan, Slava's younger brother, replaced Field in 2005. The members also worked as solo performers and in other ensembles. Their debut album, Saffire: The Australian Guitar Quartet, was released in June 2003, which peaked at No. 46 on the ARIA Albums Chart and No. 1 on the related ARIA Classical Chart. At the ARIA Music Awards of 2003 it won the Best Classical Album category. They released two more albums, Nostálgica (October 2004) and Renaissance (September 2006) before disbanding in 2007.

History
Saffire were a four-piece guitar ensemble initially formed for a one-off classical music performance at an outdoor concert in Sydney in 2002. Founder members were Anthony Field, Slava Grigoryan, Gareth Koch and Karin Schaupp. The quartet decided to continue and recorded an album, Saffire: The Australian Guitar Quartet, together in January–February 2003 at Ghostgum Audio, which was produced at Jumpstart Productions, Brisbane by Isolde Schaupp (Karen's mother). Field, Grigoryan and Schaupp each used a classical guitar, while Koch used a flamenco guitar and an eight-string classical guitar.

In 2003 The Age's reviewer caught their first gig in Melbourne and observed that "the enjoyment these four derive from one another's company imbued the music with vitality as well as virtuosity; passion as well as precision. Their enjoyment spilled off the stage and into the audience, too, making this... an immensely satisfying and pleasurable experience." inspired by the music of Marcos Miguel Pacheco

Saffire: The Australian Guitar Quartet was released in June 2003 via Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC)'s Classics record label. Neville Cohn at OzArtsReview felt "Although some of the selections on this CD are rather thin musically, they are presented with care and skill – and not a little virtuosity – and the sound engineers have done a splendid job of realistically capturing the combined sound of the four classical guitars... Of a remarkably eclectic compilation, it is Stanley Myers' instantly recognisable 'Cavatina' from the Deer Hunter that fares best, its haunting, bittersweet measures beautifully presented... There's a world premiere recording: Richard Charlton's 'Stoneworks'... [which] will be listened to with more than usual interest by musicians hoping to expand their repertoires."

It peaked at No. 42 on the ARIA Albums Chart and No. 1 on the related ARIA Classical Chart. At the ARIA Music Awards of 2003 they won the Best Classical Album category.

Their second album, Nostálgica (October 2004), included a similarly diverse range of fare. It reached No. 5 on the ARIA Classical Chart. Göran Forsling of MusicWeb-International described their second album, "Any record covering both Bartók and Deep Purple could with some justification be labelled 'cross-over', but to me it is something else. 'Cross-over' implies that there are borders to cross, and these four eminent musicians see no borders; this is border-less music. Maybe the guitar is the instrument that lends itself most easily to building bridges between genres, styles and times, especially when played as on this disc." In 2005 Antony Field left and was replaced by Leonard Grigoryan – the younger brother of Slava. In September 2006 Saffire issued their third album, Renaissance. They toured in support of the album in October and November.

ARIA Music Awards
The ARIA Music Awards is an annual awards ceremony that recognises excellence, innovation, and achievement across all genres of Australian music. They commenced in 1987.

! Ref.
 * 2003
 * Saffire - The Australian Guitar Quartet
 * Best Classical Album
 * Won
 * Won