Tommy Emmanuel in Copenhagen

Tommy Emmanuel is an Australian acoustic guitarist, born in Muswellbrook, New South Wales, in 1955. He is known for fingerstyle playing that carries melody, bass and rhythm at once, heard on pieces such as “Angelina” and “Mombasa,” the album Endless Road and his arrangement of “Classical Gas.” Chet Atkins gave him the title Certified Guitar Player. In 2000, Tommy Emmanuel performed with his brother Phil at the closing ceremony of the Sydney Olympic Games. Later concert releases documented his solo touring work: Center Stage was recorded at the Sierra Nevada Brewery in Chico, while Live at the Ryman captured a theatre performance in Nashville. A Tommy Emmanuel concert is typically a solo acoustic set in which he plays melody, bass lines, chords and percussion on the same instrument. His long-standing stage instrument is an Australian-made Maton acoustic guitar.

Joscho Stephan is a German jazz guitarist, born in Mönchengladbach in 1979, who plays gypsy jazz rooted in the music of Django Reinhardt. His recordings include Swinging Strings, Django Forever and Guitar Heroes, combining swing repertoire with his own compositions. Joscho Stephan has taken his trio beyond the European jazz circuit for appearances at Lincoln Center in New York and the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville. His concerts center on acoustic guitar interplay and improvisation, while a filmed performance of “Hey Joe” documents his live collaboration with Tommy Emmanuel.