Australian guitarists Miles and Ziggy Johnston will shortly be continuing their studies at New York’s Juilliard School as part of its prestigious Artist Diploma program. Limelight spoke to the brothers ahead of their concert at the Melbourne Recital Centre next week.

Miles and Ziggy Johnston. Photo supplied

Since our last interview in 2018, you have both completed your Master of Music degrees at the Juilliard School under multiple Grammy Award-winner Sharon Isbin. What was that experience like?

Sharon Isbin’s understanding of all styles of music and the way she utilises every colour offered by the guitar, have changed the way we consider the instrument, interpretation and performance. She also has a unique approach to lessons, taking a maximum of five students across every year at any one time. She runs guitar lessons like a weekly extended studio class, where we each have our own one-hour lesson and sit in on everyone else’s to give feedback. This enables us to observe her teaching in more detail and cover a greater repertoire, so we can become better educators ourselves.

The student body was also much friendlier and less competitive than we expected. Everyone...