Regular visitors of this site know that we are unabashed fans of young German guitarists Jessica Kaiser and Jakob Schmidt, who perform both solo and as the Kaiser Schmidt Guitar Duo, whose debut album was one of my favorites last year. Both started playing guitar at the precocious age of 4, so they were already fine players when they joined forces to form their duo in 2006, when Jessica was 13 and Jakob 12. This video, shot at a garden party in 2007, captures the pair playing a spirited piece by Ferdinando Carulli (1770–1841) when they were 14 and 13 respectively. When they were young, they studied with the great teacher Stefan Schmidt (who has had admirable success grooming young guitarists for successful careers in music); both continued their studies at the Franz Liszt School of Music in Weimar, Germany, under the tutelage of Professor Thomas Müller-Pering. I think we’ll be enjoying music from these two excellent musicians for many years! —Blair Jackson
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