Acclaimed guitarists Slava and Leonard Grigoryan have created a suite of music inspired by 18 objects personally selected from the National Museum of Australia’s vast collection, which traces our diverse and complex history.

This Is Us takes audiences on a journey from the deep past of early Indigenous Australians to the making of contemporary Australian society. The compositions are accompanied by high-definition moving projections, with various artifacts, including ancient 65,000-year-old ochre of the Madjebebe rock shelter, a convict love token, a lifebuoy from the Tampa, and Sir Donald Bradman’s famed cricket bat.

Incorporating all their influences from classical to jazz and contemporary music, performed on a variety of guitars (electric, 8-string tenor ukulele, 12-string and classical), audiences will see and hear the Grigoryan Brothers like never before.

This Is Us is also a personal declaration from Slava and Leonard that this music, composed during lockdown with each living in different states, is a new direction for them.

While they have included original compositions within programs in the past, this is the first time they will be performing an entire program of original works.