Born in Montreal to a Mi’kmaw mother and a Scottish father, Don Ross won the US National Fingerstyle Guitar Championship in 1988 and again in 1996, the first player ever to take it twice. Nineteen solo albums followed on labels from Sony/Columbia to CandyRat, along with collaborations with Andy McKee, Calum Graham and Dan Crary, and tours across Europe, Asia and Australia. He holds a Master’s in orchestration and now scores film, television and video games; the Canada Council for the Arts awarded him the Walter Carsen Prize for excellence in the performing arts in 2021.

Julie Malía, from Swabia in southern Germany, is a guitarist, singer and songwriter who teaches at the Carl Maria von Weber University of Music in Dresden. One of the most sought-after soloists on the European acoustic scene, she moves between her own songs, classical virtuosity and modern fingerstyle; her album Seagull was nominated for the German Record Critics’ Prize in 2024.

Read more on the Artists’ website.