Australian Guitarist

Sydney Guitar Trio

“The Sydney Guitar Trio: Raffaele Agostino, Janet Agostino and Richard Charlton, bring with them the most positive assemblage of antipodean acumen I have heard in a long time”.
Tim Panting – Classical Guitar Magazine Dec 2001

The Sydney Guitar Trio is Raffaele Agostino, Janet Agostino and Richard Charlton. Formed at the beginning of 1996 they gave their inaugural concert for the Sydney Classical Guitar Society in March of that year. They were invited to perform in the 1997, 1999, 2002 and 2005 Darwin International Guitar Festivals. The Trio has also performed for the Queensland Classical Guitar Society, the W. A. Guitar Society, the Canberra School of Music and in the St. Andrews’ Festival during the 2000 Olympics.
In 2001 the Trio toured to Argentina, England and Italy playing an all-Australian programme. While in the UK they performed at the Royal College of Music and took part in a benefit recital at Australia House featuring artists such as Tommy Emmanuel and Craig Ogden. The three members of the Trio bring a unique level of musicality to their performances having played ensemble music together for almost 20 years. Several Australian composers have written for the trio including Phillip Houghton, Mike Irik, Amanda Handel, Alan Holley and Richard Charlton. As well as this, the Argentinian composer Maximo Diego Pujol, has dedicated a new piece to the group.

Their debut album, “One Hour to Madness and Joy” has been released on the New Classical label by CMC - UK.
“A lovely performance from a group bringing a welcome array of positive,
quality, new music into a world needy of understanding.”

Tim Panting (Hinde St. Church Recital –London)

Raffaele Agostino is a freelance musician, teacher and an examiner for the A.M.E.B. In 1981, he founded the Sydney Guitar Quartet, a group that performed extensively for a period of over 10 years and was the first ensemble of its kind in Australia. Raffaele has performed for over 7 years in the Musica Viva “Music In Schools” project with the ensemble “Spectra”, cello-flute- guitar. As well as performing in several operas for Opera Australia, he has appeared as soloist with both the Sydney Youth Orchestra and the Ku-ring-gai Philharmonic Orchestra playing Nigel Westlake’s “Antarctica”. Raffaele has also made several recordings for the ABC and Radio 2MBS-FM. In 1998 he released a CD “Whisperings from the cedar top” of solo guitar music of Australian composers Richard Charlton and Phillip Houghton.
He is currently the Artistic Director of the Classical Guitar Society, Sydney and Assistant Lecturer in Guitar at the Sydney Conservatorium.
Janet Agostino was also a founding member of the Sydney Guitar Quartet and has been a teacher and performer of the classical guitar for more than 25 years. As an ensemble player, Janet has performed the “Gallery Players”, the Amabile players, the Bourbaki Ensemble, Themos Mexis, Halcyon and frEternity (a Sydney-based guitar ensemble formed to record and promote the works of several Australian guitarist/ composers). She has been a guest soloist with the Northern Chamber Orchestra and Ku-ring-gai Philharmonic Orchestra. Janet also plays viola with Ku-ring-gai Philharmonic Orchestra.
In classical guitar performance, she holds the AMEB Associate and Licentiate Diplomas and in 2003 was awarded the Fellowship Diploma from the Trinity College of London.
Richard Charlton is a predominantly self-taught guitarist and composer, and was a founding member of the Sydney Guitar Quartet in 1981. Richard has recorded many programmes for radio and has played in festivals around the country. Highly regarded as a teacher and pedagogue he has adjudicated on many competition panels including the Darwin International Guitar Festival, The Australian Guitar Competition and the Performing Arts Challenge. As Australia’s leading ‘guitar’ composer his works can be heard on more than 20 recordings by ABC Classics, Move Records, Walsingham Classics, Disques XXI, Jade, MBS and many others. In 2004 he won the APRA/AMC “Instrumental Work of the Year” award for his composition “Stoneworks” on the ABC disc Saffire. He is presently the Director of Music at Ascham School in Sydney.