Versatile guitarists Christopher Mallett and Robert Miller of DuoSF founded and teach at the California Conservatory of Guitar in the San Francisco Bay Area city of Santa Clara. Chris received his bachelor’s degree from the Oberlin Conservatory of Music and his master’s from the Yale School of Music, where he studied with Benjamin Verdery. Robert earned his bachelor’s from the Ithaca School of Music and a master’s from the Eastman School of Music. He also studied with Raphaella Smits at the Lemmensinstituut in Belgium. The CCG currently has about 140 students at many different age and skill levels studying there.
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Though both Mallett and Miller also play solo and in other configurations, as DuoSF they have recorded one CD so far, Corta Jaca (favorably reviewed in the Winter 2015 issue of Classical Guitar), which wonderfully shows their wide range, as they tackle classic and modern pieces by Spaniards Enrique Granados and Isaac Albeniz, Argentinian Astor Piazzolla, and contemporary Brazilian composers Sergio Assad, Radames Gnatalli, and Paolo Bellinati. When DuoSF stopped by for Classical Guitar Sessions, the opted to play a pair of evocative pieces by another well-known Brazilian composer, Celso Machado— “Xarango do Vovô” and “Imagens do Nordeste.”